Prospection is an important cognitive achievement, and isrelated to uniquely human abilities such as planning, delay ofgratification, and goal attainment. While prospection developsrapidly during early childhood, little is known about themechanisms that support its development. Here we exploredwhether encouraging children to talk about their extendedselves (self outside the present context) boosts theirprospective abilities. Preschoolers (N = 81) participated in a5-minute interaction with an adult in which they were askedto talk about events in the near future, distant future, nearpast, or present. Compared with children discussing theirpresent and distant future, children asked to discuss events intheir near future or near past displayed better planning andprospective memory. Additionally, those two conditions weremost effective in eliciting self-projection (use of personalpronouns). Results suggest that experience communicatingabout the close-in-time, extended self contributes tochildren’s future-oriented thinking.

Infants' pointing is associated with concurrent and later language development. The communicative intention behind the point-i.e., imperative versus declarative-can affect both the nature and strength of these associations, and is therefore a critical factor to consider. Parents' pointing is associated with both infant pointing and infant language; however, less work has examined the intent behind parents' points. We explore relations between parents' and infants' pointing at the level of communicative intention, and examine how pointing relates to concurrent and longitudinal infant language skills. In a sample of 52 mother-infant dyads, we measured mother and infant pointing at infant age 12-months, and infant expressive and receptive language at 12-, 18-, and 24-months. We found that mothers produced points with a variety of intentions, however we did not find relations between mother and infant pointing within the different communicative intentions. Replicating previous research, infant declarative pointing was related both concurrently and longitudinally to their language ability. Mothers' declarative pointing was related to their infants' concurrent language, while their imperative pointing was not. Further, there was an interaction between parent and infant declarative pointing, such that the positive relation between parents' declarative pointing and their infants' concurrent receptive language was present only for those infants who were also producing declarative points themselves. Findings suggest that parents' declarative pointing may support both their infants' early word learning and, perhaps, provides a model for their infant to begin using points as well. This study constitutes an important initial exploration of these relations.