Expertise and becoming conscious of something

Becoming conscious refers to how new mental content emerges in the mind. To understand this phenomenon, we studied how people experience graffiti by thinking aloud. In protocols, we found three types of becoming conscious: experiencing emotional and perceptual content directly linked to a perceivable object, non-perceivable or apperceived information content, and transformation and restructuring processes. On the grounds of the content-based study of protocols, we suggest that people can become conscious of either direct perception, apperception, or restructuring thinking. Research of the mind, which is grounded in analysis and explained by properties of mental content, can be called content-based thinking or content-based psychology. •We found that expertise increased the relative amount of non-perceivable content in protocols.•We suggest three types of becoming conscious: by perception, apperception, and thinking.•Research of the mind by properties of mental contents can be called content-based thinking.