Attachment History Predicts a Neural Synchrony Measure of Self-Other Overlap During Threat. Lane Beckes, James A. Coan, Joseph P. Allen, & Casey Brown.
Attachment History Predicts a Neural Synchrony Measure of Self-Other Overlap During Threat Lane Beckes, James A. Coan, Joseph P. Allen, & Casey Brown University of Virginia
Selected Correlations
Introduction ● Inclusion of others into the self has been theorized to be a critical variable in relationship quality (Aron, & Aron, 1996)
Self-Friend Overlap Effects
Self-Stranger Overlap Effects
● Threats to the self and threats to others recruit activity in similar brain regions (e.g., Singer et al., 2004)
Region
IPPA Total
Region
IPPA Total
Left PFC
.53
Left IFG
.47
Left SFG
.42
Right OFC
.51
Preoccupied
dACC
.51
Right Insula
.52
Participant X
● The similarity of activation for self and other within threat responsive regions (neural self-other overlap or synchrony) is rarely examined, but our research suggests it is associated with social resources during development (Beckes, Coan, & Allen, in prep.)
Participant Y Results Self-Stranger Overlap
Left OFC
-.46
Left SMC
-.47
Right OFC
Left Insula
-.46
Left OFC
-.48
Right Insula
-.45
Right OFC
-.55
● Attachment security is also linked with positive relationship outcomes in adulthood (e.g., Collins & Read ,1990), but is adult selfother overlap in the brain during threat related to adolescent attachment security?
Conclusions
Method
Mean age: 23.59, Race: 14 White, 8 African-American Procedure
● Within-subjects correlations of time series data can be used to IPPA Total Self-Other Correlation
Participants: 22 participants were recruited from the VITA longitudinal sample (Allen, Porter, McFarland, McElhaney, & Marsh, 2007) which has been annually assessing for over a decade
Dismissing
AAI Security r = .51
0.8
AAI Dismissing
r = -.44
0.8 0.6
0.6
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.2
0.2
0.2
0
0
0
-0.2
-0.2
-0.2
-0.4
-0.4
-0.4
-0.6
-0.6
-0.6
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
-0.8
-1
-0.5
r = -.55
0.8
0.6
-0.8
create an individual differences measure of self-other overlap in the neural response to threat
0
0.5
1
● These measures (taken in early adulthood) correlate with measures of attachment security collected in adolescence
-0.8 -1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
Self-Friend Overlap
● Preoccupation may make it difficult for preoccupied individuals to focus on the needs of friends, whereas it may not interfere with empathic processes toward strangers with whom the individual has no attachment
Left Insula
Right Insula
● Dismissing scores predicted self-stranger overlap better than selffriend overlap, whereas preoccupation score predicted self-friend overlap
Per block: 10 threat trials 2 shock trial
● More dismissive individuals may find it difficult to empathize with new people, preferring to stay emotionally distant
12 safe trials
Threat
References
Safe
Measures
AAI Preoccupation 0.8
Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, & Main, 1996)
0.6
Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (Armsden & Greenberg, 1989)
0.2
Allen, J. P., Porter, M., McFarland, C., McElhaney, K. B., & Marsh, P. (2007). The relation of attachment security to adolescents' paternal and peer relationships, depression, and externalizing behavior. Child Development, 78, 1222-1239. Aron, E. N., & Aron, A. (1996). Love and expansion of the self: The state of the model. Personal Relationships, 3, 45-58. Armsden, G. C., and Greenberg, M. T. (1987). The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment: Relationships to well-being in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 16, 427-454.
AAI Preoccupation 0.6
r = -.45
r = -.46
0.4
0.4
Beckes, L. Coan, J. & Allen, J. (in press). Childhood maternal support and neighborhood quality moderate the social regulation of neural threat responding in adulthood. International Journal of Psychophysiology, Collins, N. L., & Read, S. J. (1990). Adult attachment, working models, and relationship quality in dating couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 644-663. George, C., Kaplan, N. & Main, M. (1996). The Adult Attachment Interview. Berkeley, CA: Unpublished Manuscript. Singer, T., Seymour, B., O’Doherty, J., Kaube, H., Dolan, R. J., & Frith, C. D. (2004). Empathy for pain involves the affective but not sensory components of pain. Science, 303, 1157-1162.
0.2 0
0
-0.2
-0.2
-0.4
-0.4
-0.6
-0.6
-0.8
-0.8 -1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
-1 -1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
