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From the point of view of psychology, the unit of the function of speech is the word, a complex presentation which proves to be a combination put together from auditory, visual and kinaesthetic elements. (Freud, 1891).
I should like to draw your attention to the kinaesthetic element of the word configuration. It is not my intention to show how it is possible that a kinaesthetic sensation is reproduced in a sound image that finds final expression in a word presentation. What I am expressly interested in is by what agent or means kinaesthesis transmits communication from the external world to the non-verbal infant. The Oxford University Dictionary of Historical Principles defines communication as “to have a connection or passage from one to another,” or “an interchange of thoughts.”
During the first months of life, there exists no verbal communication from the infant to the mother, unless we wish to recognize crying, a global response, as a specific verbal communication. The mother's capacity to understand the needs of the young infant has in all probability a phylogenetic origin that insures the continuity and survival of the human species. The psychological counterpart of the most basic of human instincts we recognize as “empathy.” The studies of Spitz, Provence, Solnit, and others have shown the crucial role of empathy for the maturational development of the child. The failure of this mechanism in the mother can result in retarded physical and mental