You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Comment on Dr. Call's Paper. Eleanor Galenson. Pp. 294-295.
Observations of infants indicate anticipatory behavior of the approach of the
mother as early as the fourth feeding after birth, suggesting that memory is being developed by this time. The observations further suggest secondary process thinking of a rudimentary kind and that the concept of a precursor-of-the-ego or undifferentiated phase is not justified.
Galenson points out that the behavior described by Call as anticipatory was free of contact between the baby's face and the mother but not between the baby's body and the mother. Also, olfactory and auditory sensations were present prior to contact. These facts suggest reflexive behavior rather than that based on memory. The behavior described is clearly adaptive; labeling it secondary process rather than a precursor to ego formation would impede understanding of early psychic functioning and its development into quite different secondary process functioning of later periods.