Abstract
Frontal and parietal asymmetries have repeatedly been shown to be related to specific functional mechanisms involved in emotion regulation. From a developmental perspective, attachment representations based on experiences with the caregiver are theorized to serve regulatory functions and influence how individuals deal with emotionally challenging situations throughout the life span. This study aimed to investigate neural substrates of emotion regulation by assessing state- and trait dependent EEG asymmetries in secure, insecure-dismissing and insecure-preoccupied subjects. The sample consisted of 40 late adolescents. The Adult Attachment Interview was administered and they were asked to report upon personally highly salient emotional memories related to anger, happiness and sadness. EEG was recorded at rest and during the retrieval of each of these emotional memories, and frontal and parietal hemispheric asymmetry were analyzed. We found attachment representations to differentially affect both the frontal and parietal organization of hemispheric asymmetry at rest and (for parietal region only) during the retrieval of emotional memories. During rest, insecure-dismissing subjects showed an elevated right-frontal brain activity and a reduced right-parietal brain activity. We interpret this finding in light of a disposition to use withdrawal strategies and low trait arousal in insecure-dismissing subjects. Emotional memory retrieval did not affect frontal asymmetry. However, both insecure groups showed an increase in right-sided parietal activity indicating increased arousal during the emotional task as compared to the resting state suggesting that their emotion regulation capability was especially challenged by the retrieval of emotional memories while securely attached subjects maintained a state of moderate arousal. The specific neurophysiological pattern of insecure-dismissing subjects is discussed with regard to a vulnerability to affective disorders.
Highlights
A central tenet of attachment theory is that depending on the caregiver’s availability and responsiveness children form expectations about how they can rely on the caregiver in the face of stress and develop individual ways to regulate behavior in emotionally challenging situations (Bowlby, 1969; Ainsworth et al, 1974)
The current study set out to investigate how in late adolescence working models of attachment influence hemispheric brain activity related to emotional processing at rest and during the retrieval of autobiographic emotional events that have occurred beyond childhood
Trait Dependent Frontal EEG Asymmetry Concerning differences in frontal EEG asymmetries we found a specific pattern of hemispheric activation across the three attachment groups
Summary
A central tenet of attachment theory is that depending on the caregiver’s availability and responsiveness children form expectations about how they can rely on the caregiver in the face of stress and develop individual ways to regulate behavior in emotionally challenging situations (Bowlby, 1969; Ainsworth et al, 1974). When the caregiver poorly or Attachment, Brain Activity and Memory Processing inappropriately responds to the child’s signals of distress, the child may learn to avoid expressing negative affect in the future. These experiences are believed to result in a so-called inner working model of attachment that serves regulatory functions throughout the life span (Bowlby, 1982; Bretherton and Munholland, 2008). The current study set out to investigate how in late adolescence working models of attachment influence hemispheric brain activity related to emotional processing at rest and during the retrieval of autobiographic emotional events that have occurred beyond childhood. With this study we aim to add to current knowledge on processes involved in emotional memory retrieval with special regard to individual differences related to attachment
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