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Attention to Faces Expressing Negative Emotion at 7 Months Predicts Attachment Security at 14 Months

Mikko J Peltola1, Linda Forssman1, Kaija Puura1,2

  • 1University of Tampere.

Child Development
|May 27, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Infants

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Infant Behavior
  • Attachment Theory

Background:

  • Early childhood development is crucial for understanding long-term social-emotional outcomes.
  • Attachment security between infants and caregivers is a key predictor of later well-being.
  • Infant attention to emotional cues may play a role in attachment formation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore if infant attention to facial expressions at 7 months predicts infant-mother attachment security at 14 months.
  • To investigate the relationship between attentional bias to fearful faces and attachment security.
  • To examine the link between attachment disorganization and attentional bias to fear.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized an eye-tracking paradigm to assess infant attention to facial expressions at 7 months.
  • Employed the Strange Situation Procedure to evaluate infant-mother attachment at 14 months.
  • Analyzed data from 73 infant-mother dyads.

Main Results:

  • Infant attention to fearful faces at 7 months predicted later attachment security.
  • A smaller attentional bias to fearful expressions was associated with insecure attachment.
  • Attachment disorganization was linked to a lack of age-typical attentional bias to fear.

Conclusions:

  • Infants' attentional bias to negative facial expressions is linked to attachment formation.
  • Reduced sensitivity to negative emotional facial expressions may be a trait connecting attachment disorganization with later outcomes.
  • This study provides novel evidence for the role of early emotional attention in attachment development.

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