“The Cognitive Transformation Underlying Personal Renewal”
Establishment of Perception
How we perceive reality is predicated upon the internal cognitive mechanisms we construct. This cognitive mechanism is known as a schema — a perceptual framework through which we interpret reality. The building process of schemas initiates, perhaps, even as early as gestation, when voices, hormonal changes, and maternal stress are received and processed.
However, this early cognitive initiation does not imply that one is born into the world absent of any preconceived schematic elements. Quite the contrary: we all possess ancient remnants from our evolutionary past, extending back some 3.5 billion years. These ancient remnants interact with more recent inherited dispositions from parents, grandparents, and so forth.
These inherited foundations — ancient and recent — are essential in the schema formation process. They form the substrate upon which personal experiences can build in a stabilized manner, however imperfect that foundation may be.
Bit by bit, schemas are constituted. This process becomes especially evident following birth. Not only are external stimuli felt and heard, but they also become visually acquired and internally organized. Attention, thinking, and categorizing are the fundamental characteristics by which schemas are formed. Information is systematized into adaptive, referential, interconnected sequences that emerge as the environment necessitates.
Neuroanatomy of Perception
Neuroanatomically, these processes unfold through an interconnected dynamic between the right and left hemispheres. Each hemisphere provides its own distinct means of perceiving and receiving information. The right hemisphere perceives the world holistically, specializing in pattern recognition and contextual parameters, while the left hemisphere is more precise, specializing in analyzing parts and categorization (McGilchrist, 2019).
It is through this interplay that an individual begins to make sense of themselves and the world around them. By perceiving and analyzing received information in light of both holistic and analytical mechanisms, one can construct a coherent and logically sound schema.
However, if emphasis shifts toward an inequality between the hemispheres — especially if the left hemisphere becomes dominant — a partial perception results. Over time, this partial perception becomes the finished product. Rigidity and stagnation follow, as the left hemisphere tends toward certainty in its own interpretations.
Evolution of Perception
Evolutionarily, the hominin lineage propagated and transformed into new species through adaptation. These adaptations were not simply behavioral or physical — though they resulted in both — but began at the more fundamental levels of cognition and epigenetics. As hominins engaged with the world, contending with the challenges emerging around them, these novelties interacted with both genetic and cognitive processes.
A prime example is the climatic shifts that occurred multiple times in our evolutionary history. One such shift occurred approximately 650,000 years ago, coinciding with the divergence of Neanderthals and Denisovans (Sánchez Goñi, 2020).
Environmental changes appear responsible for the emergence of these new hominins. How? Through a dual mechanism: perceptual shift and epigenetics.
To survive climate change, our ancestors had to reorganize their perceptual models because the world they inhabited fundamentally changed.
This reorganization occurred through the acquisition of novel information, which was then integrated into existing frameworks — sometimes to the point of complete reconfiguration. Behavioral modifications followed, supporting survival.
Over thousands of years of contending with this shifting environment, and through new patterns of perception and behavior, underlying genetic processes unfolded. These processes contributed to increased brain growth and other physiological changes that characterized Neanderthals and Denisovans (Libedinsky et al., 2025).
Individuation and Personal Schematic Transformation
Translated to the personal level, this process of acquiring novel information and transforming perception is the essence of individuation. For Jung (1956), individuation required that an individual contend with new information — symbolized as the dragon in myth — with conscious awareness. One must critically analyze novelty to determine how it fits within one’s current perceptual and conceptual framework.
This is akin to what our primitive ancestors underwent when facing the upheaval of their environment. Developmental psychologist Piaget described this process as “assimilation” and “accommodation.” Assimilation involves incorporating new information into an existing schema. Accommodation requires the schema itself to be reconfigured (Babakr et al., 2019).
Assimilation requires minimal cognitive effort, whereas accommodation demands substantial resources. In the ancestral context, climate change necessitated accommodation — a full restructuring of perception. Those who adapted survived; those who did not perished.
Accommodation emerges when there is a mismatch between the interpretational model and the new information. When received humbly, this mismatch leads to a transformation of both perception and behavior — the psychological equivalent of the hero’s ascent in Jungian thought. The psyche reorganizes, reorienting how one navigates the world.
As time elapses, underlying epigenetic processes unfold, leading to phenotypical expressions visible to others. In mythological language, this psychological transformation mirrors the resurrection motif — a descent into chaos followed by reemergence into a reconfigured mode of being. This transformation is evidenced not only behaviorally and cognitively but, to a degree, physiologically.
References
Babakr, Z., Mohamedamin, P., Kakamad, K. (2019). Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory: Critical review. Education Quarterly Reviews, 2(3), 517–524. doi: 10.31014/aior.1993.02.03.84
Jung, C. (1956). Symbols of Transformation. Princeton University Press.
Libedinsky, I., Wei, Y., de Leeuw, C., Rilling, J. K., Posthuma, D., & van den Heuvel, M. P. (2025). The emergence of genetic variants linked to brain and cognitive traits in human evolution. Cerebral Cortex, 35(8). https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaf127
McGilchrist, I. (2019). The Master and His Emissary. Yale University Press.
Sánchez Goñi, M. F. (2020). Regional impacts of climate change and its relevance to human evolution. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2, e55. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2020.56
Michael Thacker 