Work by Trevarthen and Schore echo these findings. Schore quotes Trevarthen stating
‘‘that the growth of a baby’s brain literally requires brain/brain interaction and occurs in
the context of a positive affective relationship’’. Alan Schore (2001) takes this further: ‘In a
number of contributions I have offered evidence that indicates that the emotional
communications of evolving attachment transactions directly impact the experiencedependent
maturation of the infant’s developing brain.’ (p. 21) and, he continues because
the early maturing right hemisphere is in a growth spurt in the first year-and-a-half and is
dominant for the first three, attachment experiences specifically impact the development of
the infant’s right brain.’ Schore maintains that the early postnatal period represents a
‘critical period’ of limbic-autonomic circuit development, during which time experience
participates in shaping ongoing synapse formation.