We present the empirical characteristics of the EEA model, applied to study the development of the mother-infant communication process and the emergence of the self. We introduce the definitions, unit of analysis, and suggested applications. This model integrates three developmental patterns of organization of the mother-infant communication system: establishment, extension and abbreviation (EEA). We present the basic concepts (process, irreversible time, historicity, system of relationships, individual, and "virtual reality") and the two theoretical-methodological perspectives giving support to the model, Dynamic Systems and Dialogism, principally from Bakhtin's approach.
Developmental process; mother-infant; dynamic Systems; dialogism; self