Events in the stream of behavior

Abstract

The human mind constructs and updates models of events during comprehension. Event models are multidimensional, multitimescale, and structured. They enable prediction, shape memory formation, and facilitate action control. Event models may be updated incrementally by replacing feature information as it changes or globally by constructing an entirely new model; there is evidence for both mechanisms. Default mode network components, particularly medial prefrontal cortex, are thought to implement key event model functions, utilizing a temporally graded architecture in which regions with longer timescales perform more integration and abstraction. Two signatures of event model representations are phasic changes in overall activity at event boundaries and shifts in neural patterns at those boundaries. Current theories propose multiple control structures for event model updating, including monitoring the quality of event model–driven predictions. Event model updating during comprehension has important consequences not only for processing information in the moment but also for forming long-term memories.