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DISCUSSION: Dr. Kenneth Calder questioned whether man is unique in the capacity to form mental representations. Dr. Charles Fisher described experimental evidence that animals do form mental representations, perhaps without Piaget's cognitive element. Dreaming in animals can be an example of evocative imagery without external stimulus.
Dr. John McDevitt spoke of the increasing degrees of autonomy of the mental representation of the mother in the developing infant. 'Recognition memory' is followed at about one year by the capacity to evoke a mental representation in times of need; by about fifteen months, the child is capable of evoking this mental representation regardless of need. From sixteen to twenty-four months, intrapsychic conflict is possible because both sides of the conflict are present as mental representations.
Dr. Beres stated that he and Dr. Joseph did not say that mental representations were sufficient for man's higher functions. Although mental representation may exist without object constancy, a stable mental representation is necessary. Dr. Beres was not convinced by Dr. Calder's arguments or by Dr. Fisher's material suggesting mental representation in lower animals.