Attachment and autobiographical memory retrieval: Event-related potential evidence from strategic information processing.

Abstract

This article presents two studies using event-related potentials combined with an autobiographical memory (AM) retrieval task and a lexical judge task to explore differences in AM retrieval among differently attached individuals and to further explore whether the source of these differences is the schematic information processing mode or strategic information processing mode. The effectiveness of the information processing mode is also studied. The results revealed that differences in the AM extraction of different attachment styles were due to the strategic information processing mode, while no differences were found in the schematic information processing used by individuals with different attachment styles. Further, the strategic information processing used by the securely attached group was more flexible and efficient than that used by the insecurely attached group; moreover, the strategic information processing mode used by the avoidantly attached group was more stable and consistent than that used by the anxiously attached group.