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Theodore Gaensbauer’s (1995, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2011) studies of symbolic play re- enactments of traumatic experiences incurred during the earliest preverbal times in life of children seem to corroborate possibility of the ‘symbolizability’ and dynamic ‘representability’ of pre-symbolic and pre-represented affective traumas (See also separate entry SYMBOLIZATION). Gaensbauer theorizes that while there appears to be an innately programmed set of neuronal pathways that prime the child to internally represent and behaviorally reenact what he or she has experienced, these neuronal pathways do not operate in isolation from other parts of the brain. Within the perceptual-cognitive-affective-sensorimotor templates dictated by the traumatic experience, the particular forms that traumatic reenactments may take can be highly variable and ‘creative’. They may be manifested through a variety of expressive pathways (through different sensory modalities, through behavioral actions, through symbolic play with toys, etc.) and reflect varying perspectives (first vs. third person). Templates may be broken down and expressed in fragments, particular elements may be added or subtracted, different aspects may be emphasized at different points in time, and/or the purposes or goals of the actions may be satisfied by different means. Over a more extended period, a traumatic experience is likely to manifest itself in the form of traumatic themes, such as a preoccupation with violence or death, or through more symbolic forms of expression. It is this capacity to creatively rearrange or “play” with the internalized elements of a traumatic experience, even when much of the rearranging may take place out of conscious awareness, that provides pathways to therapeutic intervention. The capacities for cross-modal processing, integration, and expression, in the context of Meltzoff and Moore's (1977, 1994) concept of a “supramodal” representational framework, Damasio's (2008) concept of “convergence-divergence zones”, and Iacoboni's (2008a, b) “super mirror neurons,” present from infancy onward, provide a mechanism for understanding this wide-ranging variability. The neuroanatomical locations of the representational space where this ongoing reprocessing and integration spread out into the complex associative networks within the brain, including the prefrontal cortex, that are linked to the mirror neuron system and that serve to integrate internal and external stimuli. Investigation into the neural bases underlying an individual's ability to differentiate self and other in the presence of shared representations mediated by the mirror neuron system and to inhibit the automatic imitative response tendencies associated with these shared representations is ongoing (Bien, Roebroeck, Goebel, & Sack, 2009; Brass, Ruby, & Spengler, 2009).
VIII. B. Example of Early Representational World in Art: VII. Ba. Birth of Visual Art
The prehistoric art discovered in Eurasian caves, created from 37,000 to 12,000 years ago, has fascinated and perplexed historians and scientists. As these caves were uninhabited and devoted to art, Harold Blum (2011) sees them as ‘the first art galleries’.
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