ABSTRACT
Studies of parent-infant interaction have moved away from analysis of molecular behaviors and discrete time units to more global and contextual approaches. Clusters of behavior from the parent can be seen as a stimulus and clusters of behavior from the infant as a response. Embedded in particular phases of the interaction, the behaviors take on a shaded meaning. Genetic endowment, however, determines the kind of internal and external feedback systems that are available. This occurs when an infant for a number of reasons is unresponsive to stimuli, or has a low threshold for the intake of stimuli and is thus overwhelmed. The regulatory system which underlies attention to any object was first defined by T. G. Bower, Jerome Bruner, and Colwyn Trevarthan, as they elicited the behaviors involved in early reaching. They studied infants paying attention to an object in "reach space".
