Berna Güler

In sum: It’s not surprising changes, but contextual stability, that determines how we segment continuous experience into discrete events.

Across three experiments, we manipulated contextual stability while keeping prediction errors constant. In a separate experiment, we manipulated prediction errors while holding the context stable. To assess event segmentation, we used temporal distance and temporal order tasks.

Prediction error is out of context: The dominance of contextual stability in structuring episodic memories - Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Our everyday experiences unfold continuously, yet we segment them into distinct memory units—a phenomenon known as event segmentation. Although extensively studied, the underlying mechanisms of event ...

New paper alert🚀
Episodic memory is structured by event boundaries—moments of critical change. The common view suggests that prediction errors drive them—but is that true? We show that contextual stability, not prediction errors, is the key driver of segmentation.
link.springer.com/article/10.3...

To Protest Budget Cuts, Young Scientists Try Letters to the Editor

It is so moving to see my colleagues raising their voice and awareness. Proud moment ✨ @erinmorrow.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/s...

Across 4 experiments, we both manipulated contextual stability and prediction error. Findings consistently showed that contextual stability, not prediction error, better accounts for how people segment continuous experience into memory units.

Our paper is accepted in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review! 🎉
We challenge the idea that prediction errors drive event segmentation, showing that contextual stability plays a more dominant role in structuring episodic memories.
🔗 osf.io/preprints/ps...

“Sen de Bilim İçin Koş!” Projesiyle Desteklenen Berna Güler, ABD'de Bilimsel Çalışmasını Sundu - Bilim Akademisi Türkiye İş Bankası 46. İstanbul Maratonu kapsamında hayata geçirdiğimiz “Sen de Bilim için Koş!” projesiyle 272.000 TL bağış topladık. Elde edilen bağışlarla, dört doktora öğrencisinin yurt dışında dü...

Bilim Akademisi'ne tüm destekleri için içtenlikle teşekkür ederim! / I sincerely thank the Science Academy for supporting my attendance at the VSS by providing travel funding 😊 @bilimakademisi.bsky.social bilimakademisi.org/sen-de-bilim...

I’ll share findings from my recent research — which has been accepted for publication in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review — on how contextual stability, rather than prediction errors, might play a more dominant role in structuring episodic memories. Hoping to see you there! 😊

First time in #VSS2025 and it was a wonderful experience both academically and socially 🌸

Dopaminergic processes predict temporal distortions in event memory Our memories do not simply keep time - they warp it, bending the past to fit the structure of our experiences. For example, people tend to remember items as occurring farther apart in time if they spa...

New from our lab: your brain doesn’t just remember time - it bends it.

We show that the dopamine system responds to natural breakpoints in experience, and this relates to more stretched memories of time. Blinking also increases, signaling encoding of new memories.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Corrected link: osf.io/preprints/ps...

Our study examined how working memory (WM) supports event segmentation—whether it accumulates information during event comprehension or reactivates items at boundaries. We found evidence for both, suggesting that WM plays a functional role in both processes

Excited to share a new study from ACME Lab on how emotional processing shapes event segmentation! It shows that both negative stimuli and their down regulation impact how events are segmented in memory.
osf.io/preprints/psya…

Preprint update! We tested roles of contextual stability and prediction error in event segmentation, independently manipulating each factor in 4 experiments. We found contextual stability as the primary driver - challenging the event segmentation theory
osf.io/preprints/ps...

Standing up for science is standing up for truth, reason, and wellbeing. So proud of my lab and colleagues for coming out to the march today!

“Sen de Bilim için Koş!” bilimsel seyahat desteği kazananları açıklandı! - Bilim Akademisi Türkiye İş Bankası 46. İstanbul Maratonu‘na katıldığımız “Sen de Bilim için Koş!” projemizle 272.000 TL bağış toplamış, toplanan bu bağışlarla 4 doktora öğrencisinin yurtdışı bilimsel kongrelere katıl...

Honored to receive the scientific travel grant from Bilim Akademisi! Grateful for their support and motivation. Thank you, @bilimakademisi.bsky.social! ✨ #RunForScience bilimakademisi.org/sen-de-bilim...

STAND UP FOR SCIENCE March 7, 2025. Washington DC and nationwide. Because science is for everyone.

Raise your voice and stand up for science!
standupforscience2025.org

Thanks to the organizers of the 10th International Symposium on Brain and Cognitive Science for a fun meeting. Burhan Bağlar, Sinem Subaşı, and Yaren Kaynar did a wonderful job presenting their work despite being swamped with final projects and presentations. Well done! See our posters below.

Excited to share our new review paper! Episodic memories comprise segmented units. The role of working memory (WM) in such segmentation is implemented but not sufficiently studied. We explore the potential roles of WM and attention in event segmentation. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

So proud of you✨✨

Many thanks to @erengunseli.bsky.social for providing great mentorship, and to Zeynep Adıgüzel and Bilge Uysal for their support and roles in developing super cool ideas ✨

We also propose possible underlying mechanisms and experimental predictions to test these models

📣New paper alert! We discuss the role of working memory in event segmentation. We propose accumulation and reactivation models that explain how working memory may be accumulating memoranda within events and reactivating memoranda at event boundaries

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New paper alert! Congrats to Yağmur D. Şentürk and Nursima Ünver for constructing a complex design & collecting 65 EEG datasets (each 4 hours)!🎉Our study reveals that switching to a new task rule triggers memory reactivation of previously learned items. authors.elsevier.com/a/1iIjT2VHY8...

Please spread the word! A 24-month postdoc position is available in my lab. A 12-month extension may be possible. Experience in coding and data analysis is needed. Knowledge of memory, attention, or a related topic is preferred. Please get in touch via email if interested! gunselilab.com

Exciting News! Our new review paper explores the impact of divided attention on episodic memory retrieval, a topic with mixed findings. Often, studies discuss the relationship between attention and retrieval as if each is a unitary phenomenon. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Event segmentation—continuous experiences divided into distinct memory units. But what fuels this process? Our study compares two theories: prediction error and contextual stability. We found that transitions across stable contexts matter more. osf.io/preprints/ps...

👋 I am a Ph.D. student in experimental psychology. It is so nice to be connected with great minds here! ✨

#Hiscisky #psyscisky #psychscisky #neuropsyscisky