in object relations theory, a primitive, preverbal mode of normal infant experience that emphasizes sensory contact with others. If such surface contact is not soothing and comforting, the infant may react to the world as potentially dangerous, a reaction that could become pathological if it becomes rigidified as a defensive style. The concept was introduced by U.S. psychoanalyst Thomas Ogden to describe a mode of relating to the world that precedes Melanie Klein’s paranoid-schizoid position and depressive position. Also called autistic-contiguous mode.