Abstract

A model is presented that shows the developmental importance of emotional dyadic modulation in children. This phenomenon occurs when two bodies that share the same time/space generate adjustment procedures in their nervous system that participate in the development of a stress-vulnerable or stress-resilient phenotype. Contact modalities are the basis of the social brain, and agreement/disagreement behaviors are called intersubject spaces. These spaces are basically a field of somatic syntony that organizes the adrenergic tone of each participant, their pattern of comfort or discomfort and a somatic predisposition to a healthy lifestyle or risk of disease. To talk about a syntonic field implies the belief that two organisms can regulate each other on contact, impact each other's body beyond the emotional aspects. A new model is provided that includes other issues, explains possible and necessary social exchange required for development and suggests a way to evaluate the status of the body based on a social exchange, as seen in a routine pediatric consultation.