Neural Responses to Faces of Attachment Figures and Unfamiliar Faces: Associations With Organized and Disorganized Attachment Representations
Abstract
The neural response to faces of attachment figures compared with unfamiliar faces still remains elusive. In particular, the modulation of the neural response by the organized (secure, insecure) compared with disorganized attachment representation of the subject investigated is unknown. For the present study, 38 healthy participants (age range, 21–71 years) were recruited. Three attachment groups (secure, n = 14; insecure, n = 15; disorganized, n = 9) were assessed using the Adult Attachment Projective. The participants were shown pictures of the faces of attachment figures (romantic partner/parents) and unfamiliar faces in a blocked factorial design, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Showing pictures of attachment figures activated parts of a neural social judgment network, important for inferring others' affective and cognitive mental states (e.g., inferior parietal lobe/superior temporal gyrus) in securely attached healthy individuals. In contrast, disorganized attached individuals with the experience of unresolved attachment trauma in their biography showed deactivations in these areas.
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“ent with those findings, neurobiological research shows that adults with disorganized attachment working models tend to experience deactivation in areas of the temporal and parietal cortices in the brain that are involved in social cognition and empathy, in contrast to heightened activation of those areas in the brain…”
Background
- Authors
- Petrowski, K., Wintermann, G.-B., Hübner, T., Smolka, M. N., & Donix, M.
- Affiliations
- University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE)
- University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus (DE)
- Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Dresden (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Petrowski, Katja
- Venue
- Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease
- Published
- 2019-02
- Volume
- 207
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 112-120
- ISSN
- 0022-3018 (ISSN-L)
- 1539-736X
- OpenAlex
- W2912430249
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 5 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 0.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DZNE Pub (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- attachment figures, face perception, attachment security, disorganized attachment, inferior parietal lobule, superior temporal gyrus, attachment trauma, social cognition
- MeSH terms
- Facial Recognition, Psychological Trauma, Adult, Aged, Cerebral Cortex, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Nerve Net, Object Attachment, Parents, Sexual Partners, Social Perception, Spouses, Young Adult
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