"alter understanding" is a perfectly correct and usable phrase in written English.
You can use it when you want to describe a change in someone's perception or knowledge of a certain subject or issue. For example: "My course on philosophy opened my eyes to different ways of thinking and altered my understanding of the world."
Mr. Seracini found no urgent reason to proceed with a restoration but did find a whole sketch pad of work by Leonardo under the paint, work that has already significantly altered understanding of the piece.
In the context of Early Bronze Age hunter-gatherer groups in Cis-Baikal, Siberia, a comparison of bulk versus micro-sampling strategies has altered understanding of the level of mobility and interaction.
These altered understandings of the basic rules of the justice system mirrored, the report said, the Justice Department's new conception of its mission.
The perception study is structured around the theoretical themes: motives, expectations, altered understandings of self, health and disease in relation to participation, and involvement in science.
This revision in the insect family tree will dramatically alter scientists' understanding of how and why natural selection shaped physiological and biochemical processes to create a six-legged body plan, says evolutionary biologist Chris Simon of the University of Connecticut, Storrs.
As both individual contributions from micronutrients and combined additive or synergistic effects may alter risk, understanding the combined effect of antioxidant micronutrients on the risk of ovarian cancer may also help to develop a better understanding of their role in disease prevention.
Although the terms used for the reproductive parts had altered, nevertheless understanding about the way that fat prevented conception remained the same.
If these impish confidence tricks complicate our understanding of translation, they also alter our understanding of what constitutes an original poem.
How did the new findings alter historical understanding?
