Date of Award

Spring 6-2-2026

Document Type

Thesis (Undergraduate)

Department

Cognitive Science

First Advisor

Emily Finn

Second Advisor

Clara Sava-Segal

Abstract

Identical sensory input can lead to a variety of subjective experiences and interpretations. In the face of such ambiguity, we often turn to our social context. Does the identity of the person providing an alternative interpretation to an ambiguous stimulus impact someone’s likelihood to adopt it? This study examined whether perceived interpersonal similarity modulates reinterpretation of ambiguous visual stimuli. Thirty Dartmouth undergraduates completed a modified “MadLibs” paradigm in which they generated initial interpretations of ambiguous photographs, indicated their confidence in their interpretations, then decided how much to update those interpretations upon viewing an alternative sourced from an individual of varying similarity to them. We operationalized similarity via an attitude survey and conveyed it as a percentage score. We also independently manipulated semantic distance between interpretations using cosine similarity of semantic embeddings. Consistent with prior work, semantic distance from the original (self-generated) interpretation was a robust negative predictor of reinterpretation and appraisal of the alternative interpretation, with effects amplified at higher levels of initial confidence. Contrary to our hypotheses, perceived interpersonal similarity did not significantly predict reinterpretation or appraisal of the alternative. These null results may be due to an inferential gap between attitude similarity and interpretive judgment that was insufficient to trigger social heuristics. In an exploratory analysis of individual differences, we found that trait-level positive affect was a significant predictor of reinterpretation. Together, these findings establish semantic distance as the primary driving factor of reinterpretation. Future work could adopt a stronger, more ecologically valid social manipulation of similarity which may induce effects in reinterpretation.

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