ABSTRACT
Our fi rst understandings of time and space may start from experiences of proximal and distal relations and our feelings about them. The fi rst contrast we may experience may be the contrast between being in close contact with someone who cares for us – of being attached as it were – and its opposite, of being distant, separate and alone – or, at least, the threat or possibility of being so. Perhaps this contrast is coupled with other bipolar qualities of warmth or coldness, darkness and light, fullness or emptiness, hardness or softness, roughness and smoothness, bitterness or sweetness and, gradually, the spectrum of textures in-between. This would mean that the objectifi able properties of the world are saturated with subjective, emotional qualities from the outset which shape the actions and interactions of the primate. Perhaps in this way, spatiotemporal and kinaesthetic experiences may form a substrate for emotional expression.
