title: Effects of adult attachment and emotional distractors on brain mechanisms of cognitive control.
abstract: Using data from 34 participants who completed an emotion-word Stroop task during functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined the effects of adult attachment on neural activity associated with top-down cognitive control in the presence of emotional distractors. Individuals with lower levels of secure-base-script knowledge--reflected in an adult's inability to generate narratives in which attachment-related threats are recognized, competent help is provided, and the problem is resolved--demonstrated more activity in prefrontal cortical regions associated with emotion regulation (e.g., right orbitofrontal cortex) and with top-down cognitive control (left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and superior frontal gyrus). Less efficient performance and related increases in brain activity suggest that insecure attachment involves a vulnerability to distraction by attachment-relevant emotional information and that greater cognitive control is required to attend to task-relevant, nonemotional information. These results contribute to the understanding of mechanisms through which attachment-related experiences may influence developmental adaptation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 603 E Daniel St, Champaign, IL 61820, USA.
authors.forename: Stacie L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.forename: Kelly K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Bost
authors.forename: Glenn I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Roisman
authors.forename: Rebecca Levin
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Silton
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Spielberg
authors.forename: Anna S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Engels
authors.forename: Eunsil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Bradley P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Sutton
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Heller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D057190:Stroop Test