Infant observation research is providing perspectives on the development of psychic structure that augment existing psychoanalytic models, especially in the area of prerepresentational domains of experience that have not been previously well described. From related but subtly varied perspectives, these writers emphasize the centrality of the infant's experience of the intertwining rhythms and routines of both early somatopsychic states and caregiving interactions. While the specific nature of the relationship of the earliest experiences to adult personality remains somewhat problematic, these descriptions suggest new directions for conceptualizing aspects of adult treatment and psychopathology.