ERIC Number: EJ1481878
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Sep
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1363-755X
EISSN: EISSN-1467-7687
Available Date: 2025-07-31
Exploring Associations between Infant Attachment, Maternal Sensitivity, and Attention to Maternal Emotion Expressions
Developmental Science, v28 n5 e70057 2025
Recent studies have indicated that patterns of infant-caregiver attachment are associated with differences in infants' processing of social signals of emotion, such as facial expressions. In the current longitudinal study we extended this line of research to social signals of actual attachment figures by investigating whether 7-month-old infants' neural and attentional responses to their mother's angry and happy facial expressions are associated with infants' attachment security to the mother at 12 months of age. At 7 months (n = 88), we measured event-related potentials (ERP) to the mother's angry and happy faces and attention dwell times to the mother's and a stranger's angry and happy faces, and maternal sensitivity was assessed during free play. At 12 months (n = 69), infant attachment was assessed with the Strange Situation procedure. In infants who were later classified as having secure attachment, the Nc ERP component indexing attention allocation was larger to maternal happy than angry expressions, whereas no difference in Nc amplitudes to maternal facial expressions was observed in infants with later insecure attachment. We speculate that this may indicate greater approach motivation triggered by the reward value of happy faces in securely attached infants through repeated experiences of positive interaction with the caregiver.
Descriptors: Infants, Attachment Behavior, Parent Child Relationship, Mothers, Age Differences, Nonverbal Communication, Emotional Response, Foreign Countries
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www-wiley-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Netherlands
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Human Information Processing Laboratory, Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland; 2Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden, the Netherlands; 3William James Center for Research, ISPA – University Institute of Psychological, Social and Life Sciences, Lisbon, Portugal; 4Research Department of Clinical, Education and Health Psychology, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, UK; 5Facultad de Psicología y Humanidades, Universidad San Sebastián, Sede Valdivia, Chile

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