Mia Soviero
Research & Initiatives
From a beginning in headache research, Soviero has found her niche in investigating the relationship between neurological disorders and autobiographical memory.
Soviero's initial neuroscientific research interest was sparked by her own experiences. Beginning at the age of 9, she experienced chronic migraines and grew up in the care of neurologists at Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC. Her first scientific research paper, submitted as her Extended Essay for the International Baccalaureate Diploma, was a meta-analysis exploring the relationship between sleep and migraine. Eager to continue work on this subject she was personally connected to, Soviero was recruited as a research assistant at the NYU Langone Health Department of Neuroscience in her freshman year of undergrad. Here, she worked on a study to investigate telemedical interventions for headache, which were more relevant than ever in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Alonside NYU Langone Health's Dr. Mia Minen, Soviero published two scientific articles about their findings.​​
Soviero then began working at ​Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute, in the Davachi Memory Lab. There, she contributed to a large study on autobiographical memory during the COVID-19 pandemic, called the "COVID Diary" study. This experiment used the autobiographical interview to investigate a variable called "experiential diversity," which measures the level of variability in a person's everyday experiences.​
​Soviero then began her two-year thesis in neuroscience at the Davachi Lab. She devised a separate study using data that was being collected for the "COVID Diary" study, but that would investigate the impact that experiential diversity could have on both memory and affect. In a pilot project to test data analysis for her thesis, she examined the variables of experiential diversity and memory alongside anxiety symptoms. She presented these findings at the Barnard College Summer Research Institute in 2023.
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Then ​began the process of data analysis for her thesis project, which she named "Experiential Diversity, Autobiographical Memory Deficits, and Increased Depression Rates During COVID-19." Soviero hand-scored over 1200 memories collected from participants, based on literature by Levine et al, who introduced the autobiographical interview. She scored these memories into thousands of autobiographical memory segments, in order to analyze memory specificity and detail. After cleaning and analyzing the data using statistical coding, Soviero completed her thesis in neuroscience and presented it to the Neuroscience and Behavior faculty at Barnard College and Columbia University. She was awarded the Christina L. Williams Prize for Original Research for her findings. See her TikTok video (left) for a brief explanation of her thesis work, or her YouTube video (below) to watch her two-year thesis process.​​
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Currently, Soviero is continuing her research in the field of autobiographical memory, now with a focus on PTSD flashbacks and altered temporality.
Publications & Abstracts
2022, Neurology—for the 2022 American Academy of Neurology
2022, Neurology—for the 2022 American Academy of Neurology
2022, Neurology—for the 2022 American Academy of Neurology
2022, Neurology—for the 2022 American Academy of Neurology