Attachment, attention, and cognitive control: Attachment style and performance on general attention tasks

Temporal characteristics of emotional conflict processing: the modulation role of attachment styles

Theoretical account of attachment proposed that individual differences in adult attachment styles play a key role in adjusting balance between affective evaluation and cognitive control. Yet, little is known about the temporal characteristics of emotional conflict processing modulated by attachment styles. Accordingly, the present study used event-related potentials (ERP) and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) combined with an emotional face-word Stroop task to investigate the temporal dynamics of attachment-related cognitive-affective patterns in emotional conflict processing. The ERP results demonstrated multiple-process of emotional conflict modulated by attachment styles. In early sensory processing, positive faces captured avoidant attachment individuals' attention as reflected in greater P1, while the same situation led to greater N170 in secure and anxious individuals. Crucially, impairment in conflict-monitoring function was found in anxious individuals as reflected by the absence of interference effect on N450, leading to impaired ability of inhibitory control as indicated by decreased slow potential. In contrast, avoidant individuals showed greater slow potential for inhibiting emotional interference. Furthermore, MVPA revealed that the corresponding time window for conflict monitoring was found for emotional distractors decoding rather than congruency decoding in the anxious attachment group. Convergent results from ERPs and MVPA indicated that the deficits in emotional conflict monitoring and resolution among anxious individuals might be due to the excessive approach to emotional distractors, as they habitually use emotional evaluation rather than cognitive control. In summary, the present study provides electrophysiological evidence that attachment styles modulated emotional conflict processing, which highlights the contribution of attachment to social information processing.

Attachment style and attention bias to emotional information: The moderating effect of stress, stimulus characteristics, and attention stage

OBJECTIVE

We examined whether insecurely attached individuals exhibit an attention bias to emotional information, and further tested the potential moderating role of stress, information valence, information attachment relevance, and attention stage.

BACKGROUND

Attachment style can predict people's attention to emotional information. However, the empirical findings are inconsistent, making it difficult to determine the associations between attachment style and attention bias to emotional information.

METHOD

We included 68 studies (N = 5417) across 46 published and unpublished articles (the initial pool was 627 articles) in the meta-analysis.

RESULTS

People high on attachment avoidance exhibited decreased attention toward emotional stimuli (d = -0.129, p = 0.020), which was not affected by stress, information valence, information attachment relevance, or attention stage. Conversely, people high on attachment anxiety exhibited increased attention toward emotional stimuli, especially under stress, if the information was attachment-related, and during late-stage attentional processing. They exhibited an early bias away from and a late bias toward emotional information, which was intensified under stress.

CONCLUSION

Our findings support the proposition that people high on attachment avoidance use deactivating strategies in attentional processing; whereas people high on attachment anxiety use hyperactivating strategies, especially when resources are limited (under stress). When resources are available, and it is relatively early in the process, people high on attachment anxiety respond similarly to those high on attachment avoidance.

Close(d) to you? Avoidant attachment is associated with attenuated pupil responsivity to social stimuli

Insecure attachment is thought to impair romantic relationships, presumably also contributing to mental health problems. Previous research has suggested a link to biased automatic processing of social information, potentially reflected in pupil dilation responses. To address this hypothesis, 37 adults were presented with attachment-related, emotional pictures of erotic couples, everyday couples, or interpersonal violence after assessment with the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale. Considerable variation in self-reported attachment behaviors regarding both attachment anxiety and avoidance was observed in our sample. Overall, pupil dilation was most pronounced during viewing of erotica and violence-related pictures. Relative to nature pictures as control, attachment avoidance was associated with attenuated pupillary responses to social content. However, this was not significant with erotica. For pictures of violence, this avoidant bias was also evident in reduced subjective arousal. In contrast, attachment anxiety was unrelated to differential pupil dilation. Our findings, although preliminary, suggest that previous attachment-related experiences may bias the processing of social stimuli, which in turn may be reflected in altered patterns of pupillary responses.

Impact of the Dog-Human Bond on Canine Social Evaluation: Attachment Predicts Preference toward Prosocial Actors

Scholars have argued that social evaluation, the capacity to evaluate different potential social partners, is an important capacity not just for humans but for all cooperative species. Recent work has explored whether domesticated dogs share a human-like ability to evaluate others based on prosocial and antisocial actions toward third parties. To date, this work has shown mixed results, suggesting that individual differences may play a role in dogs' capacity to evaluate others. In the present study, we test whether attachment-an individual difference that affects human social evaluation performance-can explain the mixed pattern of social evaluation results observed in dogs. We first tested dogs on a social evaluation task in which an experimenter either helped or refused to help the dog's owner open a container. We then assessed dogs' attachment strength using a subset of the C-BARQ. We found that attachment was a statistically significant predictor of dogs' preference toward the prosocial actor but was not a predictor in antisocial or control conditions. This finding provides early evidence that attachment may drive positivity biases in dogs and that attachment might explain mixed results within canine social evaluation literature.

Re-visiting the 'mysterious myth of attention deficit': A systematic review of the recent evidence

Based on the inclusive and methodologically rigorous framework provided by Ed Zigler's developmental approach, we previously challenged what we called, 'the mysterious myth of attention deficit', the fallacy of attention as a universal deficit among persons with intellectual disability (ID). In this latest update, we conducted a systematic review of studies of essential components of attention among persons with ID published in the interim since the last iteration of the mysterious myth narrative was submitted for publication approximately a decade ago. We searched the databases PubMed and PsycINFO for English-language peer-reviewed studies published from 1 January 2011 through 5 February 2021. In keeping with the developmental approach, the two essential methodological criteria were that the groups of persons with ID were aetiologically homogeneous and that the comparisons with persons with average IQs (or with available norms) were based on an appropriate index of developmental level, or mental age. Stringent use of these criteria for inclusion served to control for bias in article selection. Articles were then categorised based on aetiological group studied and component of visual attention. Based on these criteria, 18 articles were selected for inclusion out of the 2837 that were identified. The included studies involved 547 participants: 201 participants with Down syndrome, 214 participants with Williams syndrome and 132 participants with fragile X syndrome. The findings from these articles call attention to the complexities and nuances in understanding attentional functioning across homogeneous aetiological groups and highlight that functioning must be considered in relation to aetiology; factors associated with the individual, such as developmental level, motivation, styles and biases; and factors associated with both the task, such as context, focus, social and emotional implications, and levels of environmental complexity.

Adult Avoidant Attachment, Attention Bias, and Emotional Regulation Patterns: An Eye-Tracking Study

Proximity-seeking in distress situations is one of attachment theory's primary strategies; insecure individuals often also develop secondary strategies. The mechanisms implied in attachment deactivation constitute a key issue in the current debate related to their role in support-seeking. The main aim of this study is to investigate the attachment deactivation strategy and the processes of proximity/support-seeking under distress conditions by analyzing the attentional processes (i.e., an essential emotion-regulation strategy), using eye-tracking techniques. Seventy-two participants (45 female; M_age 23.9 ± 3.97) responded to the ECR-R questionnaire in order to identify their attachment style. They participated in an experimental situation in which they had to choose between pictures of care or pictures of food, following the presentation of threatening or neutral prime conditions (via the pictures' stimuli). Results showed that a care-consistency response pattern was the most frequent pattern of response, particularly under a threatening condition; on the contrary, only avoidant individuals showed a lower care-consistency response pattern by choosing food pictures. The overall findings demonstrate that avoidant individuals used the deactivation strategy to process comfort-related attachment pictures, suggesting that they considered these stimuli to be threatening. The implications for attachment theory and particularly for avoidant strategies are discussed.

The mechanism of body–mind integration in the formation of destination attachment: A comparison of first-time and repeat tourists

By constructing a person-body–mind-place framework of destination attachment, this study explores the physical and mental formation mechanism of destination attachment and examines its dynamics between first-time and repeat tourists. The present study found that multisensory impressions can, directly and indirectly, affect destination attachment through emotional and cognitive psychological mediation. There are differences between first-time tourists and repeat tourists in terms of this mediation path. As the frequency of travel increases, the influence of multisensory impressions gradually increases. The formation of destination attachment is dominated by emotion for first-time tourists, whereas it is dominated by cognition for repeat tourists. Based on these findings, theoretical and practical implications are presented.

How to avoid others and influence people: Attachment orientations predict leader prototypicality in ad hoc teams

The existing literature has explored the role and importance of personality traits in leader prototypicality. However, limited research exists concerning the link between personality traits and leader emergence or prototypicality in ad hoc teams. Based on the relational leadership and attachment literature, we examine whether leader attachment orientations can serve as antecedents of leader prototypicality in ad hoc teams. Utilizing an ad hoc problem-solving task featuring a round-robin design in a sample of 197 participants, we find that individuals with a dominant avoidant attachment orientation were more likely to be perceived as leader-like or leader prototypical. In comparison, individuals with a dominant anxious attachment orientation were much less likely to emerge as leader prototypical. We interpret these findings in alignment with attachment theory and relational leadership and discuss the role of relational personality traits in ad hoc teams with no formally appointed leader.

Attachment Security Priming: A Meta-Analysis

Attachment security priming has important theoretical and practical implications. We review security priming theory and research and the recent concerns raised regarding priming. We then report the results of a meta-analysis of 120 studies (N = 18,949) across 97 published and unpublished articles (initial pool was 1,642 articles) investigating the affective, cognitive, and behavioral effects of security priming. A large overall positive effect size (d = .51, p < .001) was found across all affective, cognitive, and behavioral domains. The largest effect was found for affect-related outcomes (d =.62, p < .001), followed by behavioral (d = .44, p < .001), and cognitive (d = .45, p < .001). Trait attachment anxiety and avoidance moderated the effects of subliminal security priming for behavioral outcomes-security priming effects were larger among people higher on attachment anxiety and avoidance. Assessment of publication bias revealed mixed evidence for the possible presence of asymmetry.

Experiences in Work Relationships: A Measure of Attachment Strategies at work

Much of the burgeoning research on adult attachment in organizational settings has utilized assessment methods developed for personal social or social personal relationships contexts. Here, we propose and test a novel framework for assessing attachment orientations in the workplace, the Experiences in Work Relationships - Individual (EWR-I), based on a conceptualisation of the regulatory functions of attachment dynamics. Using data from two samples comprising early career starters and employees in the Czech Republic (N = 588 and N = 633) analyses confirmed the bifactorial structure of the new scale corresponding to: 'interpersonal hyperactivation' (involving emotional instability, negative emotionality and lack of appreciation in work relationships) and a second factor termed 'interpersonal deactivation' (involving distancing from others and relationships at work, mistrust and inhibition of positive emotionality). Evidence of convergent and discriminant validity against general relational assessments of adult attachment, and predictive and construct validity against measures of workplace personality, organizational citizenship behavior and counterproductive work behavior further documented the nature and utility of the new scale. We argue that interpersonal hyperactivation and deactivation represent two distinct and measurable key components of attachment behavior dynamics at work.

Secure attachment primes reduce fear consolidation

BACKGROUND

Recent studies have found that attachment security primes can inhibit fear acquisition. This current study aimed to examine whether a brief imaginal prime of one's attachment figure could impact on fear consolidation.

METHODS

A total of 75 participants underwent fear conditioning on Day 1 and fear recall was tested on Day 2. Immediately following conditioning, half the participants were instructed to imagine an attachment figure while the other half imagined a nonattachment positive situation. Fear-potentiated startle and subjective expectancy of shock ratings were used as the measures of fear learning across trials.

RESULTS

The attachment group showed significantly lower levels of fear recall on Day 2 at both physiological and subjective levels. Furthermore, this effect was moderated by attachment anxiety, such that it was greatest for individuals who were securely attached.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that attachment relationships are protective during the consolidation of fear memories, and may have implications for how social attachments may impact how anxiety disorders can develop.

Do Infant Faces Maintain the Attention of Adults With High Avoidant Attachment?

We investigated whether adults have attentional bias toward infant faces, whether it is moderated by infant facial expression, and the predictive effect of the adult attachment state on it. One hundred unmarried nulliparous college students [50 men and 50 women; aged 17–24 years (M = 19.70, SD = 1.35)] were recruited. Each completed a self-report questionnaire—the Chinese version of the State Adult Attachment Measure (SAAM), and a dot-probe task with a stimulus presentation duration of 500 ms, which used 192 black-and-white photographs of 64 people (32 infants and 32 adults; each person displayed three expressions: happy, neutral, and sad) as the experimental stimuli. The results showed that, at the duration of 500 ms, individuals' attentional bias toward infant faces disappeared, regardless of the facial expression. However, when the interaction between avoidant attachment state and face was controlled, the attentional bias was significant again, and the avoidant attachment state negatively predicted individuals' attentional bias toward infant faces. This indicates that at the suprathreshold stage, there are individual differences in the attentional bias toward infant faces, and high avoidant attachment will weaken individuals' attentional bias toward infant faces. This study advances previous studies that focused only on individuals' attention to infant faces occurring at the early processing stage of attention. The results provide direction for interventions; specifically, changing the attachment state of avoidant individuals can affect their attention to infants, which may promote the establishment of parent–child relationships.

The impact of psychological attachment on the relationship between periodontal health and dental fear in patients with versus without psoriasis: a questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study

Background

While there is increasing evidence for the relevance of psychosocial variables such as dental fear or psychological attachment in dentistry, much less is known about the mechanisms that determine the strength of those associations. One potential moderator is the occurrence of a comorbid chronic disease such as psoriasis, which is linked to relevant disease parameters such as periodontal inflammation. The aim of the study was to test a moderation model of the relationship between dental fear, psychological attachment and psoriasis on periodontal health.

Methods

A total of 201 patients (100 with psoriasis, 101 without psoriasis) were included in a questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study. Dental status was measured with the Community Periodontal Index (CPI), dental fear was measured with the Hierarchical Anxiety Questionnaire (HAQ), and psychological attachment was measured with the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ). In addition to the examination of main effects, bootstrapping-based analyses were conducted to test the moderating influence of psychological attachment on the association between CPI and dental fear, gain moderated by group (with vs. without psoriasis).

Results

Controlling for several covariates, higher CPI scores were associated with higher levels of dental fear only in individuals without psoriasis under conditions of higher levels of psychological attachment anxiety and lower levels of attachment avoidance.

Conclusion

In individuals without psoriasis, psychological attachment can moderate the association between periodontal health and dental fear. This may provide a useful framework for reducing dental fear through interventions on the level of the dentist-patient relationship.

Predictors of Initial Status and Change in Self-Control During the College Transition

Although self-control tends to increase through late adolescence, there are individual differences in patterns of growth. Latent growth modeling was used to investigate change in self-control across students' first year of college (N = 569, M _age = 18.03; 70.3% female; 89.6% White), and whether attachment to parents predicted this change when controlling for personality and demographic variables. Self-control decreased linearly across five assessments, with significant heterogeneity in intercepts and slopes. Personality was associated with initial self-control, and greater avoidant attachment to mothers and openness to experience predicted greater declines. Overall, self-control changes across late adolescence, and attachment and personality explain individual differences in that change, indicating potential intervention targets during emerging adulthood.

Unmet Supportive Care Needs Among Women With Breast and Gynecological Cancer: Relevance of Attachment Anxiety and Psychological Distress

OBJECTIVE

Attachment anxiety and avoidance are known risk factors for the development of unmet needs and poor well-being among patients with chronic diseases. Few studies have addressed this in individuals with cancer. We aimed to explore the relationship between supportive care needs, attachment styles and distress in women with breast and gynecological cancer.

METHODS

Using a cross-sectional paper-pencil (n = 157) and online survey (n = 614), a total of 771 patients with breast or gynecological cancer completed a set of validated questionnaires. From September 2013 to January 2014, consecutive inpatients and outpatients of the university hospital Tuebingen were included in the study. Further, participants were recruited through social media, patient internet platforms, self-help group leaders and patient networks. We used the Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS-SF-34) with the need dimensions: health system, patient care, psychological, physical, and sexual needs, as well as the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised Questionnaire, and the Distress Thermometer. A multiple linear regression model was used to analyze the influence of attachment styles (anxiety and avoidance) on the SCNS-SF-34 dimensions. A moderation analysis was used to explore the influence of the interaction between attachment anxiety and distress for all SCNS-SF-34 dimensions.

RESULTS

Attachment anxiety was a significant determinant and led to higher unmet supportive care needs in all dimensions, whereas attachment avoidance was not significant. Distress did moderate the relationship between attachment anxiety and psychological and health system needs and led to a higher unmet needs development. For the other SCNS-SF-34 dimensions, distress was not confirmed as a moderator.

CONCLUSION

Our findings highlight attachment anxiety as a risk factor for the development of unmet supportive care needs and potentially impaired psychological adjustment to cancer. Further studies are needed to elucidate the interactions between attachment styles, distress and supportive care needs among cancer patients.

Reinforcement sensitivity, depression and anxiety: A meta-analysis and meta-analytic structural equation model

Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) posits that individual differences in reward and punishment processing predict differences in cognition, behavior, and psychopathology. We performed a quantitative review of the relationships between reinforcement sensitivity, depression and anxiety, in two separate sets of analyses. First, we reviewed 204 studies that reported either correlations between reinforcement sensitivity and self-reported symptom severity or differences in reinforcement sensitivity between diagnosed and healthy participants, yielding 483 effect sizes. Both depression (Hedges' g = .99) and anxiety (g = 1.21) were found to be high on punishment sensitivity. Reward sensitivity negatively predicted only depressive disorders (g = -.21). More severe clinical states (e.g., acute vs remission) predicted larger effect sizes for depression but not anxiety. Next, we reviewed an additional 39 studies that reported correlations between reinforcement sensitivity and both depression and anxiety, yielding 156 effect sizes. We then performed meta-analytic structural equation modeling to simultaneously estimate all covariances and control for comorbidity. Again we found punishment sensitivity to predict depression (β = .37) and anxiety (β = .35), with reward sensitivity only predicting depression (β = -.07). The transdiagnostic role of punishment sensitivity and the discriminatory role of reward sensitivity support a hierarchical approach to RST and psychopathology.

Attachment security and attention to facial emotional expressions in preschoolers: An eye-tracking study

According to attachment theory, internal working models of attachment affect the way in which social and emotional information is processed. The current study examined this theoretical claim by investigating the association between attachment security and attention to facial emotional expressions in 5-year-old children. Attachment security was assessed on a representational level using an Attachment Story Completion Task. Children's attention to facial emotional expressions was measured during an eye-tracking task. Gaze data (fixation duration) were collected during the presentation of pictures displaying five different facial emotional expressions (neutral, angry, fearful, sad, and happy) of unfamiliar persons. Moreover, the Emotionality-Activity-Sociability Temperament Inventory was used to control for children's temperament and was filled out by children's mothers. Regression analyses revealed that attachment security was a significant predictor of children's attention to neutral and sad expressions while controlling for age, gender, and temperament. Moreover, a t-test revealed that securely attached children looked longer at the fearful expression than insecurely attached children. These findings provide direct evidence that even on a basic perceptional level attachment security is a predictor of children's emotional information processing. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Attachment representations substantially affect the way in which emotional information is processed. Insecure attachment representations are negatively related to children's attention to emotional stimuli. What does this study add? Eye-tracking technology was used to measure children's visual attention to facial emotional expressions. Secure attachment was related to prolonged visual attention to neutral and negative facial emotional expressions. Attachment security influences children's emotional information processing even on a basic perceptual level.

Attachment and attention problems: A meta-analysis

Attachment theorists have argued that securely attached children tend to exhibit flexible attention; the attention of children with resistant attachments is centered on attachment-related worries; children with avoidant attachments defensively focus attention away from attachment-related emotions/thoughts; and children with disorganized attachments exhibit the collapse of attention and disorientation. In this meta-analysis, a relation between attachment security status and attention problems (APs) in children (18 years and younger) was found. In total, 62 studies (67 samples) met the inclusion criteria. Children with insecure attachments were higher in APs than those with a secure attachment (r = 0.21); those with avoidant or resistant attachments were higher than securely attached children (rs = 0.10 and 0.21, respectively); children with disorganized attachments were higher than those with organized attachments (r = 0.27). Effects were larger when attachment and APs were measured concurrently/closer in time (for secure versus all; disorganized versus organized attachment); for representational versus observational measures of attachment, non-parental reports of APs, and attachment assessed at an older age (for disorganized versus organized attachment); for samples with proportionally fewer boys (secure versus resistant attachment); in recent studies (secure versus avoidant attachment); and when disorganized children were in a high-risk sample or resistant children were in a low-risk condition.

Attachment Orientations Guide the Transfer of Leadership Judgments: Culture Matters

Two experiments tested the role of global and relationship-specific attachment orientations in leader transference, a social-cognitive process in which mental representations of past leaders are associated with the evaluations of new, similar leaders. Individuals scoring higher on anxious attachment were more likely to hold high just treatment expectations of new leaders who were similar to their previous leaders. Conversely, avoidant individuals evaluated new similar leaders low on just treatment expectations and perceived them as less effective. Relationship-specific attachment orientations predicted transfer of behavioral judgments of just treatment, while global attachment orientations predicted transfer of perceived leader effectiveness. These effects were moderated by culture. In two collectivistic cultures (Greece and India), avoidant individuals demonstrated low just treatment expectations of their new similar leader. In an individualistic culture (United States), avoidant participants showed high behavioral expectations of their new, similar, leader. The results inform emerging views on relational social-cognitive processes in leader-follower interactions.

Autobiographical memory stability in the context of the Adult Attachment Interview

Increasing evidence suggests that both attachment representations and autobiographical memories are moderately stable over time. Evidence examining the stability of attachment-related memories is scarce, although these memories of early caregiving are thought to underpin attachment representations. Connecting research on stability of autobiographical memories with research on attachment representation, the present study investigated the stability of attachment-related autobiographical memories, which were provided by 151 emerging adults in repeated Adult Attachment Interviews conducted seven years apart. Results show that these childhood memories are as stable as other memories from later periods of life, and that memory stability depends on retrieval mode, memory valence, autobiographical memory specificity, and memory content (i.e., maternal vs. paternal caregiver). Investigating the relation of stability of attachment-related memory content with attachment security revealed mainly an association with secure base script knowledge, supporting the notion that attachment representations are firmly rooted in semantic and autobiographical memory systems.

Attachment anxiety benefits from security priming: Evidence from working memory performance

The present study investigates the relationship between the attachment dimensions (anxious vs. avoidance) and the cognitive performance of individuals, specifically whether the attachment dimensions would predict the working memory (WM) performance. In the n-back task, reflecting the WM capacity, both attachment related and non-attachment related words were used. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups that received either the secure or the neutral subliminal priming. In the secure priming condition, the aim was to induce sense of security by presenting secure attachment words prior to the n-back task performance. In neutral priming condition, neutral words that did not elicit sense of security were presented. Structural equation modeling revealed divergent patterns for attachment anxiety and avoidance dimensions under the different priming conditions. In neutral priming condition, WM performance declined in terms of capacity in the n-back task for individuals who rated higher levels of attachment anxiety. However in the secure priming condition, WM performance was boosted in the n-back task for individuals who rated higher levels of attachment anxiety. In other words, the subliminal priming of the security led to increased WM capacity of individuals who rated higher levels of attachment anxiety. This effect, however, was not observed for higher levels of attachment avoidance. Results are discussed along the lines of hyperactivation and deactivation strategies of the attachment system.

Self-disturbances, cognitive biases and insecure attachment as mechanisms of the relationship between traumatic life events and psychotic-like experiences in non-clinical adults - A path analysis

Although traumatic life events have been linked to psychotic-like experiences, the mechanisms of the relationship remain unclear. We investigated whether insecure (anxious and avoidant) attachment styles, cognitive biases and self-disturbances serve as significant mediators in the relationship between traumatic life events and psychotic-like experiences in non-clinical sample. Six-hundred and ninety healthy participants (522 females) who have not ever been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders took part in the study. Participants completed self-report scales that measure traumatic life events, psychotic-like experiences, cognitive biases, attachment styles and self-disturbances. Our model was tested with path analysis. Our integrated model fit to the data with excellent goodness-of-fit indices. The direct effect was significantly reduced after the mediators were included. Significant pathways from traumatic life events to psychotic-like experiences were found through self-disturbances and cognitive biases. Traumatic life events were associated with anxious attachment through cognitive biases. Self-disturbances, cognitive biases and anxious attachment had a direct effect on psychotic-like experiences. The results of our study tentatively suggest that traumatic life events are related with psychotic-like experiences through cognitive biases and self-disturbances. Further studies in clinical samples are required to verify our model.

Attachment-Related Regulatory Processes Moderate the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Stress Reaction in Borderline Personality Disorder

In this study, the authors explored whether attachment insecurity moderates the effects of adverse childhood experiences on stress reactivity in the context of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Participants were 113 women (39 with BPD, 15 with some BPD criteria present, 59 without any BPD symptoms) who participated in the Trier Social Stress Test. Saliva samples were collected before and after the stressor and assayed for salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) and cortisol. Adverse childhood experiences were measured using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and attachment by the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised questionnaire. Results revealed that attachment avoidance and a combination of more adverse childhood experiences and attachment insecurity resulted in higher sAA levels and differences in reactivity to the stressor. Interactions between attachment anxiety and adverse childhood experiences were related to blunted cortisol reactivity. The results suggest that the influence of adverse childhood experiences on stress regulation in BPD may be moderated by attachment-related regulatory processes.

Attention Bias of Avoidant Individuals to Attachment Emotion Pictures

How attachment style affects emotion processing is tightly connected with individuals’ attention bias. This experiment explored avoidant individuals’ attentional engagement and attentional disengagement using a cue-target paradigm in fMRI. The experimental group consisted of 17 avoidant participants, while the control group consisted of 16 secure participants; these were identified by the Experiences in Close Relationships inventory and the Relationship Questionnaire. Each reacted to pictures of positive parent-child attachment, negative parent-child attachment, positive romantic attachment, negative romantic attachment, and neutral non-attachment. Behaviorally, avoidant individuals were slower than secure individuals in responding to emotions and their attentional disengagement effect for negative parent-child emotions was stronger than positive ones. fMRI results showed that avoidant compared to secure individuals activated more strongly in the right superior temporal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, and the left medial frontal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, supplementary motor area, and cingulate gyrus. They also showed stronger activation in disengaging from positive than negative emotions in the bilateral fusiform and middle occipital gyri. In conclusion, avoidant individuals could detect emotions as effective as secure individuals in attentioal engaging stages. They can disengage from positive emotions with effective cognitive resources and were harder to get rid of negative emotions with insufficient resource.

The vigilance-avoidance model of avoidant recognition: An ERP study under threat priming

Our study examined attachment-related electrophysiological differences in recognition using event-related potentials (ERPs) measured during a study-test paradigm after threat priming. We identified ERP correlates of recognition by comparing the ERPs of attachment-related positive and negative images between avoidant and secure attachment orientations. Our results revealed that the distribution of early old/new effects was broader in avoidant individuals than in secure individuals, and an early parietal old/new effect was observed in avoidant individuals, which reflected their implicit memory. The late old/new effect was found only in secure individuals when evoked by negative pictures, and was not observed in avoidant individuals. The results suggest that avoidant individuals adopt the "vigilance-avoidance" dual-process model to recognize both positive and negative attachment-related stimuli and carry out preferential familiarity matching at the automatic level and avoidant retrieval at the controlled-processing level.

Time Course of Attention in Socially Anxious Individuals: Investigating the Effects of Adult Attachment Style

Theoretical models of social anxiety propose that attention biases maintain symptoms of social anxiety. Research findings regarding the time course of attention and social anxiety disorder have been mixed. Adult attachment style may influence attention bias and social anxiety, thus contributing to the mixed findings. This study investigated the time course of attention toward both negative and positive stimuli for individuals diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and assessed whether attachment style moderates this relationship. One hundred and thirty participants (age: M=29.03) were assessed using a semistructured clinical interview. Those meeting eligibility criteria for the clinical sample met DSM-IV criteria for SAD (n=90, age: M=32.18), while those in the control sample did not meet criteria for any mental disorder (n=23, age: M=26.04, 11 females). All participants completed self-report measures examining depression, social anxiety, adult attachment style, and completed an eye-tracking task used to measure the time course of attention. Eye-tracking data were analysed using growth curve analysis. The results indicate that participants in the control group overall displayed greater vigilance towards emotional stimuli, were faster at initially fixating on the emotional stimulus, and had a greater percentage of fixations towards the emotional stimulus as the stimulus presentation time progressed compared to those in the clinical group. Thus, the clinical participants were more likely to avoid fixating on emotional stimuli in general (both negative and positive) compared to those in the control group. These results support the Clark and Wells (1995) proposal that socially anxious individuals avoid attending to emotional information. Attachment style did not moderate this association, however anxious attachment was related to greater vigilance toward emotional compared to neutral stimuli.

Perceived Closeness to Multiple Social Connections and Attachment Style

Throughout life people form multiple close connections. These connections play an important role, such as providing social and instrumental support. Despite this, relatively little is known about how and why closeness to multiple others changes over time. To fill this gap, we examined changes in perceived closeness to multiple social connections and used a well-studied relational individual difference—attachment style—to shed light on those changes. Multilevel analysis and different indexes revealed that attachment avoidance was associated with lower mean perceived closeness and greater fluctuations in perceived closeness over time. These associations were moderated by attachment anxiety, such that low levels of avoidance and anxiety (i.e., security) were associated with greater stability of perceived closeness. Our results demonstrate that perceived closeness in one’s social connections tend to change, even over relatively short periods of time, and individual differences such as attachment style are important correlates of these changes.

Parental attachment insecurity predicts child and adult high-caloric food consumption

Eating habits are established early and are difficult to change once formed. This study investigated the role of caregiver-child attachment quality and its associations with high-caloric food consumption in a sample of middle socio-economic status children and adults, respectively. Survey data were collected from an online questionnaire administered separately to 213 (143 girls) children and 216 parents (adult sample; 180 women). Two studies showed that an insecure parental attachment, whether actual (Study 1; children) or recalled (Study 2; adults), significantly and positively predicted high-caloric food consumption in both samples. The present findings highlight the importance of parental attachment and its association with unhealthy eating patterns in children and adults.

Preschool teacher attachment and attention skills

Attention underlies and energizes all cognitive and behavioral activities. Many studies showed that the quality of child attachment (both to parental and non parental figures) influences cognitive functions and attention. This study aimed to investigate the relationships among attachment to preschool teachers and attention in a sample of preschoolers. In particular, the study analyzed whether child attachment security to preschool teachers influences the different aspects of their attention skills. In addition, gender- and age-related differences in attention and teacher attachment were explored. Research was conducted using two standardized instruments: the Attention and Concentration Battery, and the Attachment Q Sort. Participants were 279 children (147 male, 132 female) who attended two preschools in a town in Southern Italy. Descriptive analyses, t-tests analyses, and correlation and regression analyses were carried out. Findings highlighted several interesting points concerning the relationships that occur among attachment to preschool teachers and attention. Children with secure attachments presented higher reaction time and better auditory, visual, and visual spatial selectivity and maintenance.

Attachment patterns trigger differential neural signature of emotional processing in adolescents

Background

Research suggests that individuals with different attachment patterns process social information differently, especially in terms of facial emotion recognition. However, few studies have explored social information processes in adolescents. This study examined the behavioral and ERP correlates of emotional processing in adolescents with different attachment orientations (insecure attachment group and secure attachment group; IAG and SAG, respectively). This study also explored the association of these correlates to individual neuropsychological profiles.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We used a modified version of the dual valence task (DVT), in which participants classify stimuli (faces and words) according to emotional valence (positive or negative). Results showed that the IAG performed significantly worse than SAG on tests of executive function (EF attention, processing speed, visuospatial abilities and cognitive flexibility). In the behavioral DVT, the IAG presented lower performance and accuracy. The IAG also exhibited slower RTs for stimuli with negative valence. Compared to the SAG, the IAG showed a negative bias for faces; a larger P1 and attenuated N170 component over the right hemisphere was observed. A negative bias was also observed in the IAG for word stimuli, which was demonstrated by comparing the N170 amplitude of the IAG with the valence of the SAG. Finally, the amplitude of the N170 elicited by the facial stimuli correlated with EF in both groups (and negative valence with EF in the IAG).

Conclusions/Significance

Our results suggest that individuals with different attachment patterns process key emotional information and corresponding EF differently. This is evidenced by an early modulation of ERP components’ amplitudes, which are correlated with behavioral and neuropsychological effects. In brief, attachments patterns appear to impact multiple domains, such as emotional processing and EFs.

The Self-Report Assessment of Adolescent Attachment: A Systematic Review and Critique

The assessment of attachment beyond infancy remains a controversial issue. Over the past 20 years adolescent attachment has been assessed in a variety of ways but no ‘gold standard’ for its measurement has emerged. Considering the complexity of attachment theory and the implications for measuring such relationships during adolescence, this article undertakes a review of self-report attachment measures utilised for this age group. Results of a comprehensive PsycInfo literature search are examined with regard to studies reporting the measurement of adolescent attachment. A total of 822 citations were retrieved for the years 1990 to 2012; 394 of these abstracts were further scrutinised for use in the current review. Descriptive data from citations are reported for the measure of attachment used, sample size, age range, and psychometric properties. Following this, the most commonly used self-report measures of attachment for adolescents are reviewed in detail. Theoretical and methodological concerns regarding the measurement of adolescent attachment are discussed and recommendations made regarding key issues to consider for the development of new instruments grounded in contemporary theory and evidence.

Adult attachment insecurity and hippocampal cell density

Recent findings associate attachment insecurity (assessed as levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance) with poor emotion regulation. In turn, emotion regulation has been shown to be associated with hippocampus (HC) functioning and structure. Clinical disorders such as depression and PTSD, which have been previously associated with attachment insecurity, are also known to be linked with reduced hippocampal cell density. This suggests that attachment insecurity may also be associated with reduced hippocampal cell density. We examined this hypothesis using T1 images of 22 healthy young adults. In line with our hypothesis, attachment avoidance was associated with bilateral HC reduction, whereas attachment anxiety was significantly related to reduced cell concentration in the left HC. The findings are compatible with a neurotoxical model of stress-induced cell reduction in the HC, providing further information on emotion regulation abilities among insecurely attached individuals.