Eye movements and ERP biomarkers for face processing problems in avoidant attachment-style individuals

Abstract

BackgroundAvoidant attachment poses a serious risk to intimate relationships and offspring. However, there are few studies on the face-processing characteristics and impairments of avoidant individuals based on basic emotion theory. Therefore, this study investigated the issues of emotional processing and deactivation strategies in individuals with avoidant attachment.MethodsAvoidant and secure individuals were recruited to participate in an eye-tracking experiment and a two-choice oddball task in which they had to distinguish facial expressions of basic emotions (sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and neutral). Eye fixation durations to various parts of the face, including the eyes, nose, and mouth, were measured, and three event-related potentials (ERP) components (P100, N170, and P300) were monitored.ResultsAvoidant individuals could not process facial expressions as easily as secure individuals. Avoidant individuals focused less on the eyes of angry faces when compared to secure individuals. They also exhibited a more positive P100 component and a less negative N170 component when processing faces and a larger amplitude of the P300 component than secure individuals when processing emotional expressions.ConclusionAvoidant individuals use deactivating strategies and exhibit specific characteristics at different stages, which are of great significance in social interaction.

Reduced inhibition control ability in children with ADHD due to coexisting learning disorders: an fNIRS study

“…Consequently, the TCO paradigm is thought to have a higher ecological validity in the evaluation of inhibitory control than others (e.g., standard GNG and SS tasks) ( 21 , 23 – 25 ). TCO paradigms have been widely used in various applications, such as addiction ( 24 ), depression ( 25 ), restrained eaters ( 26 ), acute stress ( 27 ), visually induced motion sickness ( 28 ), avoidant attachment-style individuals ( 29 ), nonsuicidal self-injury ( 30 ), and male smokers ( 20 ). However, it has not fully investigated the issue of how to apply TCO paradigms to understand inhibitory control deficits in the comorbidity of ADHD and SLD.…”