The relationship between individuals with fearful-avoidant adult attachment orientation and early neural responses to emotional content: An event-related potentials (ERPs) study.

Abstract

Adult attachment orientation affects the interactions of individuals with others. Fearful-avoidant individuals are characterized by both high anxiety and high avoidance. This study examines the response of individuals with fearful-avoidant attachment orientation to neutral, emotionally positive, or emotionally negative visual stimuli. Participants included 119 undergraduate students (91 female), mean age 23.5 ± 3.6 years: 30 fearful-avoidant, 32 secure, 28 anxious-preoccupied, and 29 dismissive-avoidant. The response of individuals with fearful-avoidant attachment orientation to IAPS emotional and neutral pictures was measured using Event-Related Potential (ERP), and compared to individuals with dismissive-avoidance or anxious-preoccupied attachment orientations (with a secure attachment group as control). The study focused on early time reaction, as defined by the P1, N1, and P2 components (110-165, 165-215, and 215-280 ms poststimulus, respectively). We find that individuals with fearful-avoidant attachment orientation display a reaction to emotional (positive or negative) cues, at the P1 and P2 components, that is significantly different than that of individuals with anxious-preoccupied attachment, but is similar to that of individuals with dismissive-avoidant attachment. Our results suggest that the initial response to emotional stimuli of individuals with fearful-avoidant attachment is dominated by avoidance, rather than anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).