# Becoming Aware Through Internal Exploration: Understanding Psychotherapy on Conceptual and Neurobiological Levels

## TL;DR

The paper explains how new awareness in psychotherapy emerges through mental navigation and cognitive map expansion, linking psychological and neurobiological processes.

## Contribution

A novel framework is introduced that connects psychotherapy with neurocognitive mechanisms through the concepts of mental navigation and cognitive map expansion.

## Key findings

- Therapeutic change may involve expanding rigid cognitive maps by mental navigation.
- New awareness arises from forming new trajectories in conceptual and neural activity space.
- The framework offers directions for empirically validating the model in clinical practice.

## Abstract

Becoming aware of previously unrecognized aspects of one’s psychological and behavioral challenges is one of the central mechanisms of positive psychotherapeutic change. Yet the specific neurocognitive processes that underlie new realizations remain poorly understood. What must occur in one’s mind and brain for awareness to emerge? Here, we present a novel, detailed, process-based framework for understanding how new awareness arises during psychotherapeutic dialogue. Central to this framework are the concepts of “mental navigation” and “cognitive map expansion,” which we explain at both the conceptual and neuroscientific levels. Namely, individuals construct internal world models in the form of cognitive maps. Mental-health difficulties may reflect maps that are overly rigid or narrow. Therapeutic change may thus involve expanding these maps by mentally navigating beyond their current boundaries and forming new trajectories in the conceptual and neural activity space. We conclude by exploring clinical-practice implications as well as offering directions for empirically validating this model.