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Despite increases in the human life span, people have not increased their rate of saving. In a phenomenon known as \u2018temporal discounting\u2019, people value immediate gains over future gains. According to a future self-continuity hypothesis, individuals perceive and treat the future self differently from the present self, and so might fail to save for their future. Neuroimaging offers a novel means of testing this hypothesis, since previous research indicates that self- vs<\/em> other-judgments elicit activation in the rostral anterior cingulate (rACC). Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we predicted and found not only individual differences in rACC activation while rating the current vs<\/em> future self, but also that individual differences in current vs<\/em> future self activation predicted temporal discounting assessed behaviorally a week after scanning. In addition to supporting the future self-continuity hypothesis, these findings hold implications for significant financial decisions, such as choosing whether to save for the future or spend in the present.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ersner-Hershfield, H., Wimmer, G. E., &Knutson, B. (2009). Saving for the future self: Neural measures of future self-continuity predict temporal discounting. <\/span>Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 4<\/span>(1), 85-92.<\/span><\/p>\n