Adult attachment orientation and automatic processing of emotional information on a semantic level: A masked affective priming study. Issue 1 (30th September 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Donges, Uta-Susan; Zeitschel, Frank; Kersting, Anette; Suslow, Thomas
• Is Part Of: Psychiatry research. Volume 229:Issue 1/2(2015)
• Page Start: 174
• Page End: 180
• Publication Date: 2015-09-30
• Subjects: Emotion -- Perception -- Attachment style -- Attachment anxiety -- Attachment avoidance; Psychiatry -- Periodicals; Psychiatry -- periodicals; Psychiatrie -- Périodiques; 616.89
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2015.07.045
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0165-1781

Abstract

Abstract: Early adverse social experiences leading to attachment insecurity could cause heightened sensitivity to emotional information. Automatic processing of emotional stimuli conveys information about positive–negative differentiation and the so-called possessor vs. other-relevance of valence. The aim of the present study was to examine automatic processing of emotional and relevance type information on a semantic level as a function of adult attachment avoidance and anxiety. A masked affective priming task, varying valence and relevance of prime and target adjectives, was presented to a sample of 153 healthy adults. The Experiences in Close Relationships scale was administered to assess attachment orientation. Significant priming effects for valence and relevance were observed. Attachment avoidance, but not attachment anxiety, was significantly related to affective priming independently of trait anxiety and depression. Specifically, attachment avoidance was found to be related to affective priming effects based on other-relevant words. It can be concluded that automatic processing of emotional adjectives used to characterize safe or risky social environments is heightened in avoidant individuals. The avoidantly attached processing style has similarities with repressive coping, which is characterized by an enhanced early response to emotion stimuli followed by avoidant biases at a controlled processing level. Highlights: Processing of valence and relevance is investigated as a function of attachment. A masked priming paradigm is used to examine automatic perception processes. Information about valence and possessor/other-relevance is encoded automatically. Avoidant attachment is related to automatic processing of emotional information.