Sharon Vaisvaser

Ono Academic College

2 papers in the library · publishing 2026

Papers

Embodied Neuropsychodynamics of the Relational Self Across Space and Time: An Integrative Narrative Review

Brain Sciences June 11, 2026 Sharon Vaisvaser

Selfhood arises from embodied and relational processes, with Peripersonal Space (PPS) serving as a key interface for bodily self-consciousness, self-other relations, affect regulation, and temporal continuity. This narrative review synthesizes neuroscience, embodiment research, predictive processing, developmental science, phenomenology, and psychodynamic theory into a multidimensional neuropsychodynamic framework. Subjective time emerges from bodily rhythms, interpersonal synchronization, and predictive engagement with the environment, extending toward autobiographical continuity and mentalizing. Psychodynamic concepts like holding and containment are reinterpreted through contemporary neuroscience. Psychotherapeutic change involves reorganizing embodied, affective, and reflective dimensions via co-regulation and relational engagement.

DOI: 10.3390/brainsci16060627 Embodied cognition Temporality Narrative Perspective graphical +13

Embodied neuroaesthetics and the psychotherapeutic relational field.

Frontiers in psychology January 1, 2026 Sharon Vaisvaser

Aesthetic experiences are rooted in the body and can evoke deep emotions, supporting development, mental health, and well-being. This conceptual review integrates neuroaesthetics and psychodynamic approaches to show how aesthetic experiences arise from a dynamic interplay between anticipation and surprise, generating prediction errors that drive exploration, curiosity, and meaning-making. These processes engage neural systems for sensorimotor processing, emotion-valuation, and meaning-knowledge integration. In psychotherapy, aesthetic moments emerge through embodied interactions and creative arts, enabling pre-symbolic impressions to be transformed into symbolic, thinkable experience. Therapist and patient co-create a shared field that expands peripersonal space, deepens connection, and helps integrate unrepresented aspects of self, supporting emotional regulation, mentalization, neural plasticity, and corrective learning.

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1759744 Full text Aesthetic experience Embodied cognition Embodied simulation Mental health +2