Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3010-3858
Date of Award
Spring 6-14-2026
Document Type
Thesis (Ph.D.)
Department or Program
Cognitive Neuroscience
First Advisor
Emily S. Finn
Abstract
Identical sensory input can give rise to divergent subjective experiences. This thesis investigates the neural mechanisms that support interpretation and reinterpretation (the process of updating the meaning assigned to an experience) and how these processes shape memory. Bridging fully naturalistic paradigms and controlled experimental manipulations, I test how interpretations are constructed, revised, and retained.
Chapter 2 examines how individuals segment continuous experience into discrete events, demonstrating systematic differences across individuals in event segmentation that affect how experiences are subsequently interpreted and remembered. Chapters 3–5 shift to within-subject manipulations, showing how interpretations can be flexibly updated in response to changing perspectives. Chapter 3 shows that when the same individual encounters identical sensory input under a different interpretive framework, this leads to widespread changes in cortical representations. Chapter 4 introduces a novel paradigm to track when and where reinterpretation occurs in response to alternative perspectives, revealing that neural representational changes predict shifts in interpretation and alter subsequent perceptual processing. Chapter 5 extends this framework to longer timescales, demonstrating how reinterpretation shapes memory outcomes: recall is asymmetrically biased toward self-generated interpretations, but deliberate reinterpretation, when accompanied by neural representational change, can counteract this bias and enhance memory for alternatives.
Together, these findings demonstrate that interpretations are not merely determined by sensory input, but reflect an active process through which the same input can be “seen” in different ways, shaping neural representations and leaving lasting traces in memory. This work has implications for how interpretive biases emerge and may be modified in real-world settings.
Recommended Citation
Sava-Segal, Clara A., "Cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying the interpretation and memory of complex experiences" (2026). Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations. 493.
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/dissertations/493
