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of principle, postulate or imaginary construct ...” (Sandler 2005a, p. 161; emph. P.C.S.). It is in this context that the summary review of the inter-disciplinary studies arising out of our various conceptual developmental-dynamic frameworks need to be understood.
VII. A. INFANT RESEARCH René Spitz’s studies (1945, 1965, 1972) of long-term maternal separation on institutionalized infants was greatly influential on Mahler’s theory of separation-individuation. Importantly, he was also the first one to stress the vital importance of affectionate ‘holding’ of the infant by caregivers, which promotes rich tactile affective nonverbal communication between the infants and their caregivers. This tradition continued with Mahler (Mahler, Pine, Bergman, 1975), within the Ego Psychology/Structural theory framework, and, with the infant research on self- and interactive regulation of Beebe (Beebe 2000), and with the Boston Change Process Study Group (BCPG 2007, 2008), within the Self and Relational theories framework (See separate entries OBJECT RELATIONS THEORIES, EGO PSYCHOLOGY and SELF). Following Bowlby (1969) in England, Ainsworth (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters and Wall, 1978) in the USA developed contemporary attachment theory, where the attachment is defined as an affective bond between the infant and a caregiver (Blum 2004) and as the behavioral correspondence of internalized object relations under the influence of the early mother-infant relationship (Diamond and Blatt, 2007). The above and comparable studies in the field of infant research and attachment in Europe (D. N. Stern, 1985 ; Trevarthen & Aitken 2001; Fonagy, Gergely, Jurist & Target, 2002; Ammaniti & Trentini, 2009; Cortina & Liotti, 2010) consistently support the view of personality organized in terms of ‘self-with-other’, where the interaction between two subjects is the necessary condition for psychic development as well as for psychological cure (See also separate entries OBJECT RELATIONS THEORIES, SELF and INTERSUBJECTIVITY). VII. B. DYNAMIC AND DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROSCIENCE, AND COGNITIVE STUDIES Developmental neuroscientists have suggested that there may be a ‘virtual other’ in the brain whose outlines get filled in with experience ( Bråten , 2011 ). Mirror Neuron Systems (Gallese, Eagle and Migone, 2007) are thought to be a possible element in such innately given ‘intersubjectivity’. Neuro-psychoanalytic studies of right brain structures and activities implicated in the unconscious processes of the ‘implicit self with the other’’ of Allan Schore (2011) are also relevant in this regard. From the early stages of intrauterine-prenatal life, sensory experiences take part in the formation of a basic emotional and affective memories, a real cornerstone for the organisation of early representations (Mancia 1980; LeDoux, 1992). Following LeDoux’ investigation of the implicit interplay of the multiple memory systems under conditions of acute trauma in adults, a number of longitudinal studies continued to expand knowledge of the neurobiological
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