Repository logo
 
Publication

Exploring associations between infant attachment, maternal sensitivity, and attention to maternal emotion expressions

2025-07-31Journal article Open access
Simple item page
datacite.subject.fosCiências Sociais::Psicologia
dc.contributor.authorPeltola, Mikko J.
dc.contributor.authorBiro, Szilvia
dc.contributor.authorHuffmeijer, Rens
dc.contributor.authorSinisalo, Hanneli
dc.contributor.authorBakermans-Kranenburg, Marian
dc.contributor.authorIJzendoorn, Marinus H. van
dc.date.accessioned2025-10-14T14:55:10Z
dc.date.available2025-10-14T14:55:10Z
dc.date.issued2025-07-31
dc.description.abstractRecent 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 , 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 (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 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. Studies have indicated that different patterns of infant‐caregiver attachment are associated with infants’ processing of emotion expressions. We investigated whether infants’ attachment security is related to attentional and neural responses to their mother's facial expressions. Infants with secure attachment displayed larger attention‐related brain responses to their mother's happy than angry faces, no difference was found in insecurely attached infants.This may indicate greater reward value associated with happy faces in securely attached infants through repeated experiences of positive interaction with the caregiver.por
dc.identifier.citationPeltola, M. J., Sinisalo, H., Biro, S., Huffmeijer, R., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2025). Exploring associations between infant attachment, maternal sensitivity, and attention to maternal emotion expressions. Developmental science, 28(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.70057
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/desc.70057
dc.identifier.issn1363-755X
dc.identifier.issn1467-7687
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/13631
dc.language.isoeng
dc.peerreviewedyes
dc.publisherWiley
dc.relation.ispartofDevelopmental Science
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectAttachment; Attention; Emotion; Event-related potentials; Face pocessing; Infants
dc.titleExploring associations between infant attachment, maternal sensitivity, and attention to maternal emotion expressionspor
dc.typejournal article
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.citation.endPage13
oaire.citation.issue5
oaire.citation.startPage1
oaire.citation.titleDevelopmental science
oaire.citation.volume28
oaire.versionhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
person.familyNameBakermans-Kranenburg
person.givenNameMarian
person.identifier111725267
person.identifier.ciencia-id5C11-947F-B345
person.identifier.orcid0000-0001-7763-0711
person.identifier.scopus-author-id6701679127
relation.isAuthorOfPublication91a38a26-2df1-4c14-a369-593e98e760de
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery91a38a26-2df1-4c14-a369-593e98e760de

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Developmental Science - 2025 - Peltola - Exploring Associations Between Infant Attachment Maternal Sensitivity and.pdf
Size:
1.89 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
4.03 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

WJCR - Artigos em revistas internacionais