Preface to the Infant Peggy Study

Welcome to the kitchen.

The primary challenge when categorizing material before its analysis is how to relate original intentions of exploration with outcomes witnessed in analyses. When the trajectories and events of captured snippets of experience are determined by accidents and the whims of an infant, decisions about content relevance are entirely open to reclassification and cross-linking in the process of analysis. The overall objective is to develop strands beginning from study design intentions then from the analysis of outcomes of those experiences to develop threads as focused by relating the infant’s communicative and cognitive development to her particular experiences whenever possible. Here is the strand and thread development process to be followed for the first triennium of the Infant Peggy Study.

Representation of contents (Notes or Video Clips):
The material will be organized by serial date from the infant’s birth.
Two streams (of parents’ notes and video clips) will be juxtaposed in bi-columnar table rows, where each cell may contain notes and links or video clips and links. (See either of the posts “withScurry” or “withRobby.”) The IPS Strands and Threads are such intercalated streams.
The individual Parents’ Notes are accessible through the Text Index. The Video Clips are accessible through the Video Index. In column 1 of the Video Index, video “Week-Number” labels, ie.P026, link to Panels which contains links to all component clips, each showing a video clip at a small-pane size (320×240 pixels).
The interior labels in cells of the Index, e.g. P26A2, are links to extended video presentations of text transcripts and large pane (640×480 pixel) video clips with super-titles added to articulate and clarify the speech and action of the video. Extending this level of detail is an ongoing task as Clip Panes are selected for inclusion in strands and Threads. (Infrequently a Thread’s Notes entry will have the same serial date as a Video Clip; both cells of the row will be used. More commonly, the cell opposite the material entry will be useful for an Analyst’s current reflection on the material.) In all cases, the content of these cells can be extended when useful.

Selection of materials from the Sources Archives for a strand:
The Analyst will choose from the collection of roughly 775 useful Vignettes in the Text Index, Vignette Corpus Control, those which trace or relate to a particular Strand of development as anticipated in the design of the study (a design focus) or as witnessed in the body of materials gathered into Threads (a results focus).
Similar choices will be made from the roughly 300 useful Videos recorded. Those videos that have been fully prepared for use divide the half-hour original tape recordings into the more numerous collection of video clips, of which approximately 1000 are accessible now. Most of these are from the first triennium of the study. It is expected that over time many Clips will be cross linked into different threads and some will appear in more than one Strand; e.g. Clip P58A, appearing in the “withScurry” Thread would also be relevant to strands bearing on Peggy’s interest in and exploration of objects’ movements in response to her actions.

Initial Thread Development Examples:
The Pure Point: this thread was developed with a theoretical focus, based on arguments of two of America’s most distinguished Cognition scholars. Once someone else articulates the issues, understands the alternatives, and argues for his belief in specific conclusions, it is relatively straightforward to look into a collection of information and determine whether it supports or contradicts those conclusions or yields no decision.

With improved language interpretation processes enhancing access to video content through computer model based generation of video transcriptions, we are trying again to make significant progress with this challenging material (as has been tried in every decade since the material collection began). The first two “Agent centered” Threads were undertaken to sketch the context and workings of the study. The Analyst will return to this relational line of development after progress with the physically oriented foci.

WithScurry: This body of material was chosen as a small sample, with 10 video clips (like The Pure Point), and focussed on communication with another being where language comprehension and production were minimized issues. The unity of the thread was in the relationship of Peggy and her playmate, the Scotch Terrier. It was also recognition at the outset that social relations are primary in development (as Mimi Sinclair notes):

WithRobby: In an infant’s nuclear family, siblings can be second in importance to the infant’s Mom. 21 of Robby’s related 23 clips are from the first triennium and had the same unifying personal focus, but the behavior was more complex and also involved talking.

Miriam‘s video engagements with Peggy (as well as offscreen appearances) were more than twice in number, closer in relationships and certainly no less in importance than Robby’s. They will be developed subsequently.

The children’s Mom (Gretchen by name) and Dad (Bob) are ubiquitous in appearances in the materials, and in their creation and interpretation during the years of the study.

These are the persons of these many micro-playlets of the Infant Peggy Study. Kate was born to us in the IPS second triennium, about which and her more later.

Builder, dated 5/12/2025 (US format), 250512 (transaction serial date)