Schedule of Events | Symposia

Within-individual neural patterns differ for memories of self- and other-generated interpretations of the same stimuli

Poster Session D - Monday, March 31, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom
Also presenting in Data Blitz Session 3 - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm EDT, Constitution A.

Clara Sava-Segal¹, Tory Benson², David Igbalajobi¹, Emily Finn¹; ¹Dartmouth College, ²Rutgers University

Ambiguous information can be interpreted and remembered in multiple ways, providing a tool for studying subjective memory. Social contexts, like considering others’ opinions, often expose us to interpretations different from our own. The role of source (self- or other-generated) in subjective recall remains underexplored. We developed an encoding-recall paradigm using ambiguous images that generated multiple interpretations. Participants (N=41) underwent fMRI across two sessions. In session-1, on each trial, they viewed an image, generated their own interpretation (SELF), and saw another person’s interpretation (OTHER). A week later, in session-2, participants freely viewed each image again, then were cued to recall SELF and OTHER interpretations one at a time (order counterbalanced across trials). Behaviorally, both interpretations were recalled above chance, though SELF was recalled more accurately. SELF and OTHER became more similar in memory, but this merge was asymmetrical: OTHER memories shifted to resemble SELF more than vice versa (p<.001). Neurally, we compared multivariate activity patterns in 100 cortical parcels during SELF-vs.-OTHER-cued viewings. Cueing with different interpretations significantly shaped neural activity across multimodal cortical regions, despite identical sensory input (q<.05). The “asymmetrical merging” was mirrored neurally, with less distinct patterns for the two interpretations in the temporal poles and angular gyrus on trials where OTHER merged more toward SELF. This suggests self-generated interpretations serve as a default “anchor” in memory. Further, neural activity during uncued viewing also resembled SELF-cued more than OTHER-cued patterns. These findings suggest self-generated interpretations dominate subjective recall by anchoring how ambiguous information is remembered.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Self perception