Brain activity during emotion perception: the role of attachment representation

Attach Hum Dev. 2010 May;12(3):231-48. doi: 10.1080/14616731003759724.

Abstract

To examine emotional face processing in mothers of different attachment representations, event-related potentials were recorded from 16 mothers during presentation of infant emotion faces with positive, negative or neutral emotional expressions within a three-stimulus oddball paradigm, and frontal asymmetries were assessed. Insecure mothers, as compared to secure ones, showed a more pronounced negativity in the face-sensitive N170 component and a smaller N200 amplitude. Regarding the P300 component, secure mothers showed a stronger response to face stimuli than insecure mothers. No differences were found for frontal asymmetry scores. The results indicate that attachment differences may be related to neuropsychological functioning.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological
  • Adult
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Brain / physiology*
  • Electroencephalography
  • Emotions / physiology*
  • Evoked Potentials
  • Face / anatomy & histology
  • Facial Expression*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Mother-Child Relations
  • Mothers
  • Object Attachment*
  • Pilot Projects
  • Visual Perception / physiology*