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fusion (Mahler et al. 1975, p. 45), marked by an absence of boundaries between self and other (Fonagy, 2001), when the baby and the mother are an ‘operative unit’, not only the major primary affects, but also the early strivings for differentiation of self and other - the prerequisite of the theory of mind - and the rudiments of empathy are emerging. During the first 6 to 8 weeks of life (Gergely & Unoka, 2011; Roth, 2009), infants show different reactions to animate faces and inanimate patterns, are able to differentiate their mother’s voice from other voices, present a smiling response to ‘not me’ interactional experiences, and have a capacity for multi- modal transfer - to visually identify a specific object in terms of its shape previously held in the baby’s mouth. These early indications of the capacity to differentiate experiences originating in the self from external experience develop dramatically during the first several months of the ‘symbiotic’ era. The capacity for empathy for the other also emerges during the first few weeks of life. Mediated neurobiologically by various brain functions, during the first two weeks of life, a ‘contagion’ of feelings among infants can be observed that may involve an ancient phylogenetic subcortical system. In addition, the ‘gating function’, by which affiliative affects related to attachment, play-bonding and erotic stimulation fuel intense attention to the other, may play a role. Finally, empathy is strongly influenced by the mirror neuron systems: firstly the primordial cortical system, but later, widely distributed mirror functions involving insula, as well as the parietal and temporal cortex, contribute to a general ‘cognitive-emotional recognition system’ (Bråten, 2011; Richter, 2012; Roth and Dicke, 2006; Zikles, 2006; Kernberg 2015). Initially, structures with affective activation, such as brain stem and subcortical limbic curcuit regions, are primarily involved; but gradually, cognitive activation structures, such as orbitofrontal cortex, prominently participate. It would appear that these new neurological findings support the hypothesis of a non-linear dialectic of simultaneous strivings for symbiotic (dual) unity , as well as for differentiation between self and other , both emerging during earliest development. This further substantiates previous statements (Stern, 1985; Blum, 2004b) about earlier differentiation, than previously thought by Mahler, but puts the onset of rudimentary differentiation still earlier. The degree to which this could be theorized as a neuro- developmental underpinning for the contradictory motions observed in the adult clinical situation towards unconscious re-union and merger with objects, on the one hand, and internal separation, on the other, could be an intriguing and controversial, yet fruitful, area of future multidisciplinary study. Kernberg’s version of Psychoanalytic Object Relations Theory recognizes two basic levels of personality organization (borderline and neurotic), implying two basic levels of development: First, under the dominance of peak affect states, a dual psychic structure is built up during preverbal years. This dual structure consists of, on one hand, idealized self representations relating to an idealized object (infant and mother) under the dominance of strong positive (affiliative) affective states; on the other hand, an opposite dyadic set of relationships develops under the dominance of strongly negative (aversive, painful) affects, constituted by a frustrating or aggressive representation of the object connected to a frustrated,
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