KMED-I (Infancy): Cry–Response Dyad Simulator

This repository contains the official Python implementation of KMED-I (Infancy) — a simulation framework modelling the infant–caregiver cry–response dyad.

KMED-I formalises the newborn’s cry as the first epistemic event, extending the Kahl Model of Epistemic Dissonance (KMED) into developmental psychology. It models how caregiver policies—fiduciary, inconsistent, neglectful, or silencing—shape trajectories of:

• Epistemic Autonomy (EA) – persistence in signalling contradiction
• Dissonance Tolerance (DT) – capacity to withstand contradiction
• Dependence (D) – reliance on suppression versus recognition

The framework provides a computational tool for exploring epistemic clientelism, resilience, and trust, bridging intimate caregiving contexts with broader institutional and social applications.

Documentation & Usage

The script reproduces the simulations documented in the paper The newborn’s first cry as epistemic claim and foundation of psychological development (see below).

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• numpy
• matplotlib

Install dependencies via:

# install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt
# or
pip install numpy matplotlib

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/Peter-Kahl/KMED-I-infant-cry-response-dyad-simulator.git
cd KMED-I-infant-cry-response-dyad-simulator/src

License

• Code is released under the MIT License (see LICENSE).
• Accompanying paper and documentation are released under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0.

You may freely use, adapt, and extend the code for research and educational purposes. Please cite appropriately.

Citation

Please cite the paper and optionally the repository release tag:

• Kahl, P. (2025). The newborn’s first cry as epistemic claim and foundation of psychological development: Attachment, autonomy, and resilience. Lex et Ratio Ltd. GitHub: https://github.com/Peter-Kahl/The-Newborns-First-Cry-as-Epistemic-Claim-and-Foundation-of-Psychological-Development DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17265357

and

• Kahl, P. (2025). KMED-I (Infancy): Cry–Response Dyad Simulator (Version v1.1) [Computer software]. Lex et Ratio Ltd. GitHub. https://github.com/Peter-Kahl/KMED-I-infant-cry-response-dyad-simulator/releases/tag/v1.1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17293190