attunement described in this chapter.Not only in the remote past,but even today in soci-
eties that experience scarcity,mothers may withdraw care and attention from (show benign
neglect to) some infants to protect the survival of other family members who are vulnera-
ble (Scheper-Hughes 1987:14).Infants differentially display traits (rhythmicity,adaptability,
approach-withdrawal,threshold,intensity,mood,distractibility,persistence) that are associ-
ated with adult attribution of “easy”or “difficult”(Carey 1973).Such variability,assessed
and reacted to by mothers in early interactions,could be acted on selectively.
2.According to Schore (1994) and Trevarthen and Aitken (1995:598),among others,
infants are guided from birth by subcortical and limbic motive systems to seek the mutual
coordination of dynamic mental states with caregivers.
3.The human ability to keep together in time,described by McNeill (1995) in his study of
dance,drill,and “muscular bonding”in human history,is only one coordinative ability
among several in the mother-infant repertoire (which McNeill does not include in his inter-
esting and original study).
4.Cessation or loss of expected consequences results in discomfiture (Beebe and Lach-
mann 1988a).Even at two months of age,after two minutes of normal play infants will
respond to their mother’s unmoving,silent face with repeated efforts to reengage and even-
tual signs of distress (Tronick et al.1978).At the same age they respond similarly to a
delayed videotaped presentation of their mother’s face as she interacted with them thirty
seconds earlier (Murray and Trevarthen 1985),indicating that they expect a contingently
responsive partner.
5.Until age four or five years children cannot distinguish the rhythm of a piece from
accompanying movements,and find it difficult to sing without moving their hands and feet
(Suliteanu 1979).Infants nine to thirteen months of age moved differently to a lively and
to a slow recorded segment of music,indicating that they can respond appropriately to
temporal patterning of complex auditory sequences (Trehub 1993).
6.Radcliffe-Brown (1922/1948:234) observed also that ceremonies are “intended to main-
tain and transmit from one generation to another the emotional dispositions [N.B.not
“information”or “traditions”] on which the society depends for its existence.”Darwin
(1885:571) remarked that although music arouses various emotions,these do not include
“terrible”ones like horror,fear,or rage.As it happens,the emotions he mentions are all
affiliative (e.g.,tenderness,love),even “triumph and ardor for war,”which also reinforce
community and are communally aroused and expressed.
7.In traditional societies,visual forms are rarely created without the intention to use them
in structured ceremonies,hence one might even propose that visual arts were initially
developed to accent and make more salient the temporal arts in a multimodal event.
8.Darwin (1885,chapter IV) suggested that human social affections are probably an
extension of parental or filial sentiments.Eibl-Eibesfeldt (1989:144) pointed out that wher-
ever brood care exists,there is also affective behavior between adults;where it does not,
even where the creature is gregarious (e.g.,iguanas),adults have no affiliative or contact
behavior,and communication is restricted to display.The role of oxytocin,a neuropeptide
that induces labor and milk secretion,in mammalian prosocial behaviors,including adult
contact with young pups’ response to social separation,maternal caretaking,grooming,
sexual behavior in males and females,and adult pair bonding,suggests a neurochemical
basis for adult affiliative behaviors (Insel 1992;Freeman,this volume) deriving phyloge-
netically from maternal-infant behavior.
9.Aiello and Dunbar (1993) suggested that human language developed as a bonding
mechanism,driven by increasing group size and the need to supplement existing mecha-
nisms (e.g.,grooming) of social cohesion.A concomitant or prior development of the tem-
poral arts (as rituals) would seem to be additionally plausible in archaic sapiensor late
erectus,providing neural and anatomical bases for (and development alongside) spoken
language.Similar suggestions were made by others (e.g.,Donald 1991),but,like Aiello and
Dunbar,without reference to the role of mother-infant interactions.Jaffe and Anderson
(1979) suggested that human communication,including chant,song,poetry,pantomime,
kinesic cueing,sign language,and speaking,is based on an evolved capacity for the acqui-
sition,use,and elaboration of rhythmically structured gestural systems,including the artic-
ulatory apparatus.
10.What are simulated and exchanged in early interactions are emotional states:interest,
pleasure,desire to establish relationship with,intention to please,and intention to com-
municate with the other (Trevarthen 1984,1990).405 Antecedents of the Temporal Arts