Does Future Time Reference Framing Increase Temporal Discounting? Evidence from English Monolinguals

Despite growing support for the linguistic-savings hypothesis (LSH), direct causal evidence remains limited. Recent research has investigated whether future time reference framing affects intertemporal decision-making, particularly in languages with weak future-time-reference (w-FTR) distinctions, though these studies have largely yielded null results. One critique of these null results is that speakers of w-FTR languages may be insensitive to the subtle language framing intended to prime distinctions between present and future, unlike speakers of strong future-time-reference (s-FTR) languages. To address this gap, the present study re-examines the framing effect within English, an s-FTR language, using a sample of nearly 600 monolingual participants. Consistent with previous findings, the results provide no evidence supporting the LSH in the context of future time reference framing.