title: Consciously identified attachment hierarchies: cognitive accessibility of attachment figure names as a function of threat primes in a lexical decision task.
abstract: Studies have linked the subliminal priming of threat-related words to heightened cognitive accessibility directed towards the names of identified attachment figures. The present study used a lexical decision task to examine the cognitive accessibility of names of individuals who formed part of participants' self-reported attachment hierarchies. We did not find support for heightened accessibility in relation to the names of (a) consciously identified attachment figures in general, (b) full-blown attachment figures, or (c) primary attachment figures. However, our data revealed that participants showed increased accessibility to mothers' names in response to threat primes. This effect was even identified in individuals who did not consider mothers to occupy a primary position in their attachment hierarchy. Results are discussed in the context of attachment system activation in early adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Education, University of Bath, UK. S.Carr@bath.ac.uk
authors.forename: Sam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Landau
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009275:Names; D009769:Object Attachment; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult