Preamble to the Infant Peggy Study

Our human bodies live in a very physical world wherein evolution has judged us fit to carry on for a while. One thrust of this research is to explore and trace how an infant learns about the physical world through interacting with it. Our physical human’s sense of being in a network of relations with other beings develops with such nurturance as the immediate community offers in the interactions of everyday life. Another thrust of this research is to explore and trace how that same human infant develops as a person through interactions with others in the immediate community of a specific nuclear family. Inasmuch as language becomes a primary medium of communication over time, the study also traces in part the development of her speech interpretation and production by examining snippets of communication and behavior.

The issues implicated are as old as the human ability to observe, act and reflect on living. Recording technologies and others enabled by expanding capacities in symbol processing machines have made it possible to record (thus freeze in time) snippets of behavior for subsequent review and analysis. The specific materials of the Infant Peggy Study (IPS) were captured between 1978 and 1984. The purpose was less to validate a theory than to construct a corpus sufficiently rich in content and detailed in texture to yield insights about the processes of learning in situations of everyday life. They have been copied, saved, digitized, organized and reorganized time and again since then. Our effort today is to prepare this study for analysis by us (and others) in the hope that advances in technology have and will make it possible to manage the interpretation of this mass of material now. The work is underway at NLCSA.net now.

Bob Lawler