1,507 research outputs found
Containment and reciprocity in biological systems : a putative psychophysical organising principle
No full textThe stuff of life, the living substance that is common to all biological organisms, is the aqueous society of biochemical activity ongoing in every cell in every living body. The basic biochemical ‘reactions’ of life are largely similar with variations of a theme played out in different cells living in different environment, e.g. the core biochemical metabolic processes of all life likely stem from an ancient, early-earth ancestor (Smith & Morowitz, 2004). However, even more common to life than shared biochemistry are the basic structural properties of all cells and all living organisms into complexes of compartmentalised units. In this paper, I will argue there are common feelings driving the generation of these ubiquitous structures in nature and that these feelings may constitute one of several primary forms of feeling in living systems
Meaning-making in shared projects of common purpose, and its disruption in autism spectrum disorder
No full textThe emotional and embodied nature of human understanding : sharing narratives of meaning
No full textThis chapter explores the emotional and embodied nature of children’s learning to discover biological principles of social awareness, affective contact, and shared sense-making useful for school learning. The origins of learning are evident in purposeful movements of the body before birth. Simple self-generated actions learn to anticipate their sensory effects. In their action they generate a small ‘story’ that progresses through time, giving meaningful satisfaction on their successful completion. During child development, simple actions become organised into complex projects requiring greater appreciation of their consequences, expanding in capacity and reach. They are mediated first by brainstem conscious control made with vital feelings, which builds the foundations for a more abstract, cortically mediated cognitive intelligence in later life. By tracing development of meaning-making from simple projects of the infant to complex shared projects in early childhood, we can better appreciate the embodied narrative form of human understanding in healthy affective contact, how it may be disrupted in children with clinical disorders or educational difficulties, and how it responds in joyful projects to teachers’ support for learning
Defining the child's curriculum, and its role in the life of the community
No full textWe invited experts in early child development, education, and care to clarify issues of universal importance for the well-being of human worlds. They include teachers who appreciate that every child is born for a life of learning and needs to develop this in a community of joyful friendships to share its culture of arts and techniques. We address the difficulties of children and their families struggling to live in social depri- vation or poverty when the administration and politics of an ambitious government are principally concerned with how industry makes wealth for a minority. Evidence we present demonstrates that leadership to address and support the creative abilities of all children and their families in their years before school is essential. Such lead- ership recognizes the importance of these abilities for the development of healthy, cooperative, and self-confident citizens who can secure the health of the community and benefit its economic productivity in a rich and peaceful world
The spirit of the child inspires learning in the community : how can we balance this promise with the politics and practice of education?
No full textOur contributors offer inspiring stories—from a psychology of early childhood and teaching experience that appreciates the spiritual values that young children affirm in shared enjoyment of life. We confirm that every child has motives of an affection- ate learner, seeking companions for an active and imaginative life. Each boy and girl, with their individual characters and interests, wants to take part in the ‘common sense’ world of a community with its treasured moral and artistic values, sharing joy in the discovery of a natural and meaningful world. They do not just need to be taught how to use material possessions, and how to obey social and cultural rules. We seek principles for early education and care to support responsive teachers in the years before formal school begins. Scotland’s kindergarten tradition and its contem- porary policies for transition to school offer a distinguished history of curriculum reformation, following the spirit of the child
Theories of the development of human communication
No full textThis article considers evidence for innate motives for sharing rituals and symbols from animal semiotics, developmental neurobiology, physiology of prospective motor control, affective neuroscience and infant communication. Mastery of speech and language depends on polyrhythmic movements in narrative activities of many forms. Infants display intentional activity with feeling and sensitivity for the contingent reactions of other persons. Talk shares many of its generative powers with music and the other ‘imitative arts’. Its special adaptations concern the capacity to produce and learn an endless range of sounds to label discrete learned understandings, topics and projects of intended movement
The co-creation of joy and shared meaning through embodied narrative engagements
No full textAffect and interest are made manifest in the movements of the limbs and body from well before birth, indicating an innate sensorimotor intentionality present within the activities of the foetus. After birth, making connection through movements of the voice and body with others becomes critical for health and development, and a motive force exists that drives one to engage with and to come to understand another. These early communicative engagements can form narrative patterns where the initial exchange is built upon through cycles of expression in turn-taking and rhythm. The energy in expression and intensity between the partners typically increases to give a climactic moment of shared joy, before receding again to quiescence. We propose these early narrative patterns establish cultures of expectation with regular patterns of arousal, affect, and interest. Using examples from mother-infant engagements and engagements with non-verbal autistic children, I will demonstrate how affective sensorimotor attunement is necessary for making connection in shared narratives, and that by this connection self-regulation and further development become more possible
Disruption to motor intentions in children with autism : kinematic evidence for brainstem timing errors
No full textHuman movements are prospective (Delafield-Butt et al., 2018). They must anticipate ahead of time their lawful consequences (Delafield-Butt & Gangopadhyay, 2013; Trevarthen & Delafield-Butt, 2017a, 2017b). In children with autism, evidence indicates a common disruption to prospective movement may underpin its early pathogenesis (Trevarthen & Delafield-Butt, 2013) and may be a cardinal feature of autism (Fournier et al., 2006). Yet, more work is required to better characterize this possible ‘autism motor signature’ and to probe its neurodevelopmental origins. In this study, we employed smart tablet computers with touch-sensitive screens and embedded inertial movement sensors to ecologically record the subsecond motor kinematics of purposive, prospective movements made by children developing with and without autism
Parent-infant co-regulation: Ethological, ecological, and cultural approaches
No full textInternational audienceThe nature of human infants as psychological agents working in partnership with their parent or caregiver presents a compelling example of the nature of the mind as both an embodied, physical expression and a mental private experience, intimately shared with another through mindful actions of the body (Reddy, 2008). Infants are intentional agents from the beginning of life (Delafield-Butt et al., 2018; Delafield-Butt & Gangopadhyay, 2013) that work to regulate their vital psychological and physiological needs in co-creative partnership with their caregivers, and the social and object world in which they engage their interests (Brazelton, 1974; Stern, 2000; Trevarthen, 1979).Human infant and child care has evolved a rich variety of strategies to meet the needs of the child as well as those of the adult caregivers responsible for their protection, love, and support (Hrdy, 2009). Like other mammalian offspring, human children solicit attention and care from the mother or caregiver, and similarly the mother or caregiver solicits attention from them. The relationship is a continuous reciprocation of love and conflict between parents and children with competing demands of life, including socioeconomic necessities (parental work and social needs) and biological demands (attachment and care). Parent-child co-regulation is a process of negotiation within the relationship so that it serves a common goal for health, growth, learning, and autonomy
Parent-infant co-regulation : ethological, ecological, and cultural approaches
No full textThe nature of human infants as psychological agents working in partnership with their parent or caregiver presents a compelling example of the nature of the mind as both an embodied, physical expression and a mental private experience, intimately shared with another through mindful actions of the body (Reddy, 2008). Infants are intentional agents from the beginning of life (Delafield-Butt et al., 2018, Delafield-Butt and Gangopadhyay, 2013) that work to regulate their vital psychological and physiological needs in co-creative partnership with their caregivers, and the social and object world in which they engage their interests (Brazelton, 1974, Stern, 2000, Trevarthen, 1979). Human infant and child care has evolved a rich variety of strategies to meet the needs of the child as well as those of the adult caregivers responsible for their protection, love, and support (Hrdy, 2009). Like other mammalian offspring, human children solicit attention and care from the mother or caregiver, and similarly the mother or caregiver solicits attention from them. The relationship is a continuous reciprocation of love and conflict between parents and children with competing demands of life, including socioeconomic necessities (parental work and social needs) and biological demands (attachment and care). Parent-child co-regulation is a process of negotiation within the relationship so that it serves a common goal for health, growth, learning, and autonomy. This special issue examines the wide diversity of parent-child co-regulations in human cultures, from before birth, through infancy and childhood, focusing on the specificities of childrearing revealed by different psychological approaches (developmental, socio-cultural, comparative) as well as anthropological and biological ones. Our practical goal is to expand knowledge of co-regulation from a biological and psychological perspective for improved understanding in professional, educational, and familial care
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