title: The influence of attachment representation on parental perception and interpretation of infant emotions: A multilevel approach.
abstract: The aim of the study was to investigate parental perception and interpretation of infant emotional expression depending on their attachment representation. Forty-six parents' responses to infant pictures depicting positive, neutral, and negative emotions were assessed on the level of affective judgments (valence, arousal), mimic responses (facial muscle activity), and of the eyelid reflex (using the startle paradigm). Results revealed small differences between parents of different attachment representations with respect to their subjective evaluations. However, secure parents, as compared to insecure ones, showed a positive bias in their mimic responses to infant pictures. The modulation of the startle response indicated a negative evaluation of negative infant emotion expressions in dismissing parents, while an augmentation of the startle response to negative infant emotions could not be observed in secure and preoccupied parents. The findings highlight the role of attachment experiences for emotional information processing in parents and its consequences for parental behavior.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Erlangen-Nuernberg, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany. gottfried.spangler@psy.phil.uni-erlangen.de
authors.forename: Gottfried
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Spangler
authors.forename: Ursula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Maier
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Geserick
authors.forename: Angelika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: von Wahlert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D002666:Psychology, Child; D013216:Reflex, Startle