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Preschoolers' attention to and memory for attachment-relevant information
1Department of Psychology, Washburn University, Topeka, KS 66621, USA. zzkirs@acc.wuacc.edu
Insights
Infant attachment quality impacts later attention and memory. Securely attached children demonstrated better attention and recall compared to insecurely attached children, highlighting attachment
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Attachment Theory
Background:
- Attachment quality in infancy is theorized to shape socio-emotional and cognitive development.
- Early attachment experiences may influence information processing, including attention and memory.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between infant attachment quality and children's attention and memory abilities at 3.5 years old.
- To explore how different attachment styles (secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-ambivalent) are associated with specific cognitive functions.
Main Methods:
- Sixty-eight children aged 3.5 years participated.
- Two attention tasks involved viewing mother-child and adult dyads in various interactions.
- A memory task included recalling stories about maternal responsiveness.
Main Results:
- Insecure/avoidant children avoided looking at mother-child interaction drawings more than secure children.
- Insecure children were less likely to attend to mother-child drawings compared to secure children.
- Secure children recalled positive maternal response stories better than insecure/avoidant children, and rejecting stories better than insecure/ambivalent children.
Conclusions:
- Attachment experiences significantly influence attentional patterns and memory recall in early childhood.
- Findings support attachment theory's propositions regarding the internalization of relational experiences into cognitive processes.
- Early attachment security is linked to more adaptive attention and memory functions.
Abstract:
This study examined the relation between attachment quality in infancy and attention and memory at 3 1/2 years. Sixty-eight children participated in 2 attention tasks and 1 memory task. In the first attention task, children were shown several sets of drawings; each set depicted a different mother-child dyad engaged in positive, negative, and neutral interaction. Insecure/avoidant children looked away from the drawings more than the other children. In the second attention task, children were shown different sets of drawings; each set depicted a mother-child dyad engaged in positive interaction and an adult dyad expressing neutral affect. Insecure/avoidant and insecure/ambivalent children looked away from the mother-child drawings more than the secure children; when children did look at a drawing, insecure children were less likely than secure children to look at the mother-child drawing. In the memory task, children were read 6 stories in which a mother responds to her child's bid for help. In 2 stories the mother responds sensitively to her child, in 2 stories the mother rejects her child, and in 2 stories the mother provides an exaggerated response to her child. Secure children recalled the responsive stories better than insecure/avoidant children and the rejecting stories better than the insecure/ambivalent children. Findings are discussed in terms of the proposition from attachment theory that attachment experiences influence attention and memory processes.