DC

Dave Clewett

Assistant Professor of Psychology

University of California, Los Angeles

Memory Emotion Arousal Cognitive Neuroscience 2026 Sloan Fellow

About

Dave Clewett is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at UCLA, where he directs the Adaptive Cognition, Memory, and Emotion Lab. His research asks a deceptively simple question: why do we remember what we remember? The answer, it turns out, has everything to do with emotion, arousal, and how the brain transforms the continuous flow of experience into discrete, meaningful episodes — much like chapters in a book.

Working at the intersection of cognitive psychology and neuroscience, Dr. Clewett uses neuroimaging, eye-tracking, pupillometry, and behavioural methods to uncover the brain mechanisms that determine what we attend to, what we store, and what we later recall. His work has particular relevance for understanding anxiety, PTSD, and other affective disorders — conditions in which memory and emotional arousal interact in ways that can be debilitating.

"Even though our lives unfold continuously, our personal narratives don't strictly mirror this constant stream of information. Instead, our memories reflect the passage of discrete and meaningful episodes — much like chapters in a book."

— Dave Clewett, UCLA

In 2026 Dr. Clewett was named a Sloan Research Fellow — one of the most prestigious early-career honours in science, awarded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to researchers whose work is judged to be among the most promising in their field. His research has been featured on NPR's Science Friday and BBC Radio 4's All in the Mind.

Research areas

Dr. Clewett's lab currently investigates four interconnected questions. How does emotional arousal determine what we selectively attend to and remember? How do dynamic fluctuations in arousal help the brain segment continuous experience into distinct memory episodes? What role does the locus coeruleus — a small but powerful brain region — play in energising attention and shaping memory? And can we harness these arousal-related processes to enhance learning and protect vulnerable memories from fading?

His lab recently developed the Emotion Compass, a new tool for tracking how dynamic emotional states influence the way experiences are packaged into memory — with implications for how we understand and treat depression and PTSD.

Selected publications

Distortion of overlapping memories relates to arousal and anxiety.
Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience — 2025
Negative emotional events retroactively disrupt semantic scaffolding of temporal-order memory.
Emotion — 2025
Emotional arousal lingers in time to bind discrete episodes in memory.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience — 2024
Pupil-linked arousal signals track the temporal organization of events in memory.
Nature Communications — 2020

How Dr. Clewett teaches at The Athenaeum

Students in Dr. Clewett's seminar engage directly with the questions his lab is currently working to answer — not a textbook account of settled knowledge, but live intellectual problems at the frontier of cognitive neuroscience. Students read primary literature, develop their own research question, and learn to think like scientists: following evidence, sitting with uncertainty, and being honest about what remains unknown.

The cohort is six students. By the second session, Dr. Clewett knows how each one thinks.

Appointment

Assistant Professor

Department of Psychology, UCLA

Lab

ACE Lab

Adaptive Cognition, Memory, and Emotion Lab — UCLA

Honours

Sloan Fellow

2026 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship — one of three UCLA professors awarded in 2026

Media

NPR · BBC

Science Friday (NPR) and All in the Mind (BBC Radio 4)

Teaching at The Athenaeum

Why We Remember What We Remember

Summer 2027 — 6 places

View program →

Express interest

Applications for Dr. Clewett's 2027 seminar open in January. Submit an expression of interest to be notified.

Areas of Practice

Music

The world of music is ever growing and evolving, and we’re not just talking about sound trends. With the consistent introduction of varying revenue streams and distribution channels, the opportunity for profit grows, but so does the complexity. We take pride in clearly explaining and navigating the often foggy landscape of entertainment law and its relationship to music industry professionals of all types. We help our clients draft and negotiate contracts relating to recording, publishing, licensing and distribution, sponsorship and merchandising.

Television, Film & Theater

The way people consume entertainment is constantly in flux, so the laws must adapt quickly. Harris Ingram strives to anticipate these changes so you can focus more on creating a performance of a lifetime. Among our clients are actors, directors, unions, agencies, writers, animators, and many other industry talents. We draft and negotiate development, production, financing, and sales & distribution agreements. Tailoring each contract according to a project’s scope, size, and budget, we secure the appropriate creative rights for all talents involved.

Fashion, Apparel & Textile Law

Fashion law is a little bit like the Wild West. There’s a lot of potential, but the rules can be convoluted and vague at best. Protecting a brand or even a single design involves intellectual property, copyrights, trademarks, and patents. A successful case requires creativity and flexibility. Harris Ingram represents boutique design houses like Marta and Thorne, individual designers like Mara Bond, and illustrators and graphic designers. We protect their products against copycats large and small, and guide them through manufacturing ethics and labeling laws.

Intellectual Property

Ideas, tangible or not, are the most important things to protect in today’s competitive creative market. With so many channels and constantly replenishing feeds to watch out for, tracing the ownership and originality of a design, brand name, or invention needs the laser-focused eye of a trained attorney. We’ll handle the search, application, and filing process of trademarks, copyrights, and patents. And if your idea has been infringed upon, our litigation team will negotiate the best possible licensing and settlement agreements.

Art Litigation

Demystifying art law is in itself a creative practice. It requires finesse, strategic structuring, and, in many ways, empathy. At the end of the day, art and its worth is profoundly personal. In such matters, mediation or arbitration almost always yields the most fulfilling results. However, should the occasion arise, our lawyers are more than prepared to move into litigation. From artists, agents, dealers, galleries, museums, and auction houses, our clients have always walked away from their disputes or deals knowing that their core interests were preserved.

Digital Media & Technology

The internet, software, and technology are so pervasive that we can’t remember having ever lived without them. They make our lives simpler, but behind the curtain are fluctuating challenges in protection and monetization; challenges that our firm stays two steps ahead of. We’ve helped engineers, inventors, gaming startups, and entrepreneurs develop, license, sell, and maintain ownership over their creations. We’ve also negotiated purchasing and partnership agreements for larger investment companies looking for their unicorn.

Liability & Risk

Whether you run a theater, recording studio, or an eCommerce website, all businesses need to minimize their legal liability and risk. Our lawyers will assess the structure of your operation, such as its physical or digital space, the types of products you sell, who your consumers are, what type of company you have filed under (LLC, Inc, etc.), and so on. From there, we will tailor the right risk plan, complete with permit applications, insurance policies, and more, so you can worry less about liabilities and concentrate on growing your business.