Adult attachment orientations and the processing of emotional pictures - ERP correlates

Past studies have consistently found that adult attachment orientations contribute to the ways in which people handle emotional events. Attachment-anxious individuals tend to intensify negative emotional states and exaggerate the threatening aspects of an event, whereas attachment-avoidant individuals tend to distance themselves from emotional situations. In the current study, we examined how adult attachment orientations modulate brain responses to emotional stimuli using event-related potentials. Participants viewed unpleasant, pleasant, and neutral pictures, and categorized them according to their valence. Individuals scoring high on attachment anxiety elicited greater late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes to negative pictures than those scoring low on anxiety. Findings are consistent with predictions derived from attachment theory and add to our understanding of emotional regulation.