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Event structured cognition: the role of event boundaries
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[eng] Since the moment of our birth, we are driven by an insatiable urge to understand and make sense of the world around us. To navigate the continuous flow of experiences, our minds instinctively break them down into discrete events, allowing us to grasp and remember them more effectively. In my PhD research, I delve into this fascinating process, aiming to unravel how the brain’s organization of ongoing activity is influenced by the presence of event boundaries—specifically, the beginning and end points of events. When an event boundary occurs, it serves as a natural break in the stream of experiences, allowing for the encoding and storage of the preceding event as a distinct episode. They may also provide natural breakpoints for evaluation and anticipation. As individuals approach an event boundary, their cognitive systems engage in predictive processing, generating expectations about what might occur next. However, a number of intriguing questions remain regarding the mechanisms behind the detection and segmentation of events. What are the neural processes that allow us to perceive and demarcate event boundaries? How do event boundaries influence the consolidation of memories? How do event boundaries affect the retrieval and evaluation of relevant memories when making decisions? To investigate these questions, I leverage the remarkable temporal precision offered by electro- physiological recordings conducted on a cohort of healthy participants. Additionally, I tap into the unique opportunity provided by intracranial electroencephalographic recordings obtained from individuals diagnosed with epilepsy, which offer an unprecedented level of anatomical precision. In this thesis research, I have made several noteworthy findings: Firstly, in Study 1, I discovered that our brains perceive and store information in the form of discrete events. This process occurs rapidly after the conclusion of each event, and it is predictive of later reinstatement or recall of those events. These results provide the first neurophysiological underpinnings for how the memory systems segment a continuous long stream of experience into episodic events. Secondly, in Study 2, I observed a noteworthy interaction between cortico-hippocampal ripples throughout the encoding of an event, indicating the potential role of ripples in facilitating the integration of diverse memory elements across cortical regions. Moreover, the study found an increase in ripple activity at hippocampal event boundaries. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of memory encoding mechanisms and emphasize the involvement of ripples in event segmentation. Thirdly, in Study 3, I found evidence that event boundaries are instrumental in organizing state-space knowledge into a high-dimensional structure when individuals engage in goal-directed behavior. This suggests that event boundaries serve as cognitive anchors that allow us to effectively navigate and manipulate information within a specific context, facilitating adaptive decision making. By addressing these questions, my research enhances our understanding of the mechanisms underying event segmentation, memory formation, and decision making. It explores the neural substrates, cognitive processes, and behavioral consequences associated with event boundaries, ultimately shedding light on the fundamental principles governing human cognition. In doing so, we lay the groundwork for future research exploring the intricate interplay between events, memory, and decision making.
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SILVA, Marta marques de almeida e. Event structured cognition: the role of event boundaries. [consulta: 11 de desembre de 2025]. [Disponible a: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/207646]