Individual differences in experiential diversity shape event segmentation granularity

Parsing experience into meaningful events or units, known as event segmentation, may be critical for structuring episodic memory, planning, and navigating the spatial and social world. However, little is known about what factors shape inter-individual differences in event segmentation. Here, we show that individuals with greater variation in their daily social and spatial lives (experiential diversity) displayed more fine-grained event segmentation during a movie-viewing task. Further analyses revealed that this relationship held after considering potential confounds, such as anxiety and loneliness, and was primarily driven by variation in social experiential diversity. These results support the view that event segmentation can occur proactively based on social and spatial environmental dynamics learned in the wild and provide a potential cognitive pathway through which isolation impacts cognitive health.