Neural correlates of distress and comfort in individuals with avoidant, anxious and secure attachment style: an fMRI study.

Fiche publication

Date publication

août 2024

Journal

Attachment & human development

Auteurs

Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Pr MOULIN Thierry

Tous les auteurs :
Comte A, Szymanska M, Monnin J, Moulin T, Nezelof S, Magnin E, Jardri R, Vulliez-Coady L

Lien Pubmed

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39093338

Résumé

Despite a growing literature, experiments directly related to attachment are still needed. We explored brain processes involved in two aspects of attachment, distress and comfort. Seventy-eight healthy adult males with different attachment styles (secure, avoidant, and anxious) viewed distress, comfort, complicity-joy and neutral images (picture database BAPS-Adult) in an fMRI block design. ROIs from the modules described in the functional Neuro-Anatomical Model of Attachment (Long et al. 2020) were studied. Secure participants used more co- and self-regulation strategies and exhibited a higher activation of the reward network in distress and comfort viewing, than insecure participants. Avoidant participants showed the lower brain activations. Their approach and reward modules were the least activated in distress and comfort. Anxious participants presented both higher activations of the approach and aversion modules during complicity-joy. In addition, comfort and complicity-joy were processed differently according to attachment styles and should be differentiated among positive stimuli to disentangle attachment processes.