Humans can imagine what happened in the past and what will happen in the future, but also
what did not happen and what might happen. We reflect on envisioned events from …

Abstract Thinking about what might have been—counterfactual thinking—is a common
feature of the mental landscape. Key questions about counterfactual thinking center on why …

How do people make causal judgements? In this paper, I show that counterfactual
simulations are necessary for explaining causal judgements about events, and that …

This article explores the concept of counterfactual thinking in children's social cognition. It
suggests that children may not fully develop this ability until around the age of 6, which has …

Young children often struggle to answer the question “what would have happened?”
particularly in cases where the adult-like “correct” answer has the same outcome as the …

Regret is a common emotion that has important links with decision-making in adults. Recent
research suggests that the ability to experience regret emerges relatively late in …

Adults often reason about what might have happened had they chosen an alternative course
of action in the past, which can elicit the counterfactual emotion of regret. It is unclear …

Abstract Children (6-and 7-year-olds) decided whether to wait for a short delay to win a prize
or for a longer period to win a different prize. Those who chose to take their prize after a …

The emotions of regret and relief are mediated by the counterfactual comparison between
the obtained and foregone outcomes of our decisions. Regret is strongly associated with a …

In two studies, we investigated for the first time the content of children's counterfactual
thoughts about their own experiences. Results showed that the majority of children aged 8 …