It serves as "the basis for the child's ability to learn and create,"[citation needed] and is what Stern believes is the sense of self that is disrupted in the negative symptoms of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.

The child learns whether it can depend on its caregiver to provide for its needs and the types of affective and behavioral responses it can expect in specific situations, which serve as the basis for its future attachment style.

Eventually, if all goes well, the child will internalize these experiences with the primary attachment figure and be able to invoke these memories to help herself self-regulate her affect [citation needed].

However, with proper attunement by the primary attachment figure, the child also becomes aware that this gap can be bridged through intersubjective experiences, such as sharing affect and focus of attention.

Disturbances (e.g. abuse, trauma) that occur during sensitive periods and thereby interfere with important developmental processes may have more severe consequences than "insults" later in life.