Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:45:26.522Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mothers’ electrophysiological, subjective, and observed emotional responding to infant crying: The role of secure base script knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2014

Ashley M. Groh ,
Glenn I. Roisman ,
Katherine C. Haydon ,
Kelly Bost ,
Nancy McElwain ,
Leanna Garcia  and
Colleen Hester
Ashley M. Groh*
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Glenn I. Roisman
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
Katherine C. Haydon
Affiliation:
Mount Holyoke College
Kelly Bost
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Nancy McElwain
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Leanna Garcia
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Colleen Hester
Affiliation:
Indiana University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Ashley M. Groh, University of Missouri at Columbia, Department of Psychological Sciences, Columbia, MO 65211; E-mail: groha@missouri.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which secure base script knowledge—reflected in the ability to generate narratives in which attachment-relevant events are encountered, a clear need for assistance is communicated, competent help is provided and accepted, and the problem is resolved—is associated with mothers’ electrophysiological, subjective, and observed emotional responses to an infant distress vocalization. While listening to an infant crying, mothers (N = 108, M age = 34 years) lower on secure base script knowledge exhibited smaller shifts in relative left (vs. right) frontal EEG activation from rest, reported smaller reductions in feelings of positive emotion from rest, and expressed greater levels of tension. Findings indicate that lower levels of secure base script knowledge are associated with an organization of emotional responding indicative of a less flexible and more emotionally restricted response to infant distress. Discussion focuses on the contribution of mothers’ attachment representations to their ability to effectively manage emotional responding to infant distress in a manner expected to support sensitive caregiving.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 27 , Issue 4pt1 , November 2015 , pp. 1237 - 1250
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ablow, J. C., Marks, A. K., Feldman, S. S., & Huffman, L. C. (2013). Associations between first-time expectant women's representations of attachment and their physiological reactivity to infant cry. Child Development, 84, 1373–1391.Google Scholar
Ahern, G. L., & Schwartz, G. E. (1985). Differential lateralization for positive and negative emotion in the human brain: EEG spectral analysis. Neuropsychologia, 23, 745–755.Google Scholar
Aiken, S. L., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the Strange Situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Allen, J. J. B., Coan, J. A., & Nazarian, M. (2004). Issues and assumptions on the road from raw signals to metrics of frontal EEG asymmetry in emotion. Biological Psychology, 67, 183–218.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beijersbergen, M. D., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Juffer, F. (2008). Stress regulation in adolescents: Physiological reactivity during the Adult Attachment Interview and conflict interaction. Child Development, 79, 1707–1720.Google Scholar
Bost, K. K., Shin, N., McBride, B. A., Brown, G. L., Vaughn, B. E., Coppola, G., et al. (2006). Maternal secure base scripts, children's attachment security, and mother–child narrative styles. Attachment and Human Development, 8, 241–260.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bryk, A. S., & Raudenbush, S. W. (1992). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Coan, J. A., & Allen, J. J. B. (2003). Frontal EEG asymmetry and the behavioral activation and inhibition systems. Psychophysiology, 40, 106–114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coan, J. A., & Allen, J. J. B. (2004). Frontal EEG asymmetry as a moderator and mediator of emotion. Biological Psychology, 67, 7–49.Google Scholar
Coan, J. A., Allen, J. J. B., & McKnight, P. E. (2006). A capability model of individual differences in frontal EEG asymmetry. Biological Psychology, 72, 198–207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohn, J. F, & Tronick, E. Z. (1983). Three-month-old infants' reactions to simulated maternal depression. Child Development, 54, 185–193.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conradt, E., & Ablow, J. (2010). Infant physiological response to the still-face paradigm: Contributions of maternal sensitivity and infants’ early regulatory behavior. Infant Behavior and Development, 33, 251–265.Google Scholar
Davidson, R. J. (1988). EEG measures of cerebral asymmetry: Conceptual and methodological issues. International Journal of Neuroscience, 39, 71–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davidson, R. J., Ekman, P., Saron, C. D., Senulis, J. A., & Friesen, W. V. (1990). Approach–withdrawal and cerebral asymmetry: Emotional expression and brain physiology: I. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 330–341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dix, T. (1991). The affective organization of parenting: Adaptive and maladaptive processes. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 3–25.Google Scholar
Dozier, M., & Kobak, R. (1992). Psychophysiology in attachment interviews: Converging evidence for deactivating strategies. Child Development, 63, 1473–1480.Google Scholar
Fowles, D. (1980). The three arousal model: Implications of Gray's two-factor learning model for heart rate, electrodermal activity, and psychopathy. Psychophysiology, 17, 87–104.Google Scholar
Fowles, D. (1988). Physiology and psychopathology: A motivational approach. Psychophysiology, 25, 373–391.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
George, C., Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1984–1996). Adult Attachment Interview protocol. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Berkeley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, J. (1975). Elements of the two-process theory of learning. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Groh, A. M., & Roisman, G. I. (2009). Adults’ autonomic and subjective emotional responses to infant vocalizations: The role of secure base script knowledge. Developmental Psychology, 45, 889–893.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heller, W. (1993). Neuropsychological mechanisms of individual differences in emotion, personality, and arousal. Neuropsychology, 7, 476–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, W., Nitschke, J. B., Etienne, M. A., & Miller, G. A. (1997). Patterns of regional brain activity differentiate types of anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 376–385.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heller, W., Nitschke, J. B., & Miller, G. A. (1998). Lateralization in emotion and emotional disorders. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 7, 26–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland, A. S., & Roisman, G. I. (2010). Adult attachment security and young adults’ dating relationships over time: Self-reported, observational, and physiological evidence. Developmental Psychology, 46, 552–557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jonas, R. (1986). A component analysis of the emotionality of type A behavior pattern . Unpublished doctoral dissertation, New School for Social Research, New York.Google Scholar
Killeen, L. A., & Teti, D. M. (2012). Mothers’ frontal EEG asymmetry in response to infant emotion states and mother–infant emotional availability, emotional experiences, and internalizing symptoms. Development and Psychopathology, 24, 9–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kline, J. P., Blackhart, G. C., Woodward, K. M., Williams, S. R., & Schwartz, G. E. R. (2000). Anterior electroencephalographic asymmetry changes in elderly women in response to a pleasant and an unpleasant odor. Biological Psychology, 52, 241–250.Google Scholar
Lay, K., Waters, E., & Park, K. A. (1989). Maternal responsiveness and child compliance: The role of mood as a mediator. Child Development, 60, 1405–1411.Google Scholar
Leerkes, E. M. (2010). Predictors of maternal sensitivity to distress. Parenting: Science and Practice, 10, 219–239.Google Scholar
Leerkes, E. M. (2011). Maternal sensitivity during distress tasks: A unique predictor of attachment security. Infant Behavior and Development, 34, 443–446.Google Scholar
Leerkes, E. M., Blankson, A., & O'Brien, M. (2009). Differential effects of maternal sensitivity to infant distress and nondistress on social–emotional functioning. Child Development, 80, 762–775.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leerkes, E. M., Parade, S. H., & Gudmunson, J. A. (2011). Mothers’ emotional reactions to crying pose risk for subsequent attachment security. Journal of Family Psychology, 25, 635–643.Google Scholar
Leerkes, E. M., & Siepak, K. J. (2006). Attachment linked predictors of women's emotional and cognitive responses to infant distress. Attachment and Human Development, 8, 11–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Malatesta, C. Z., Culver, C., Tesman, J. R., Shepard, B., Fogel, A., Reimers, M., et al. (1989). The development of emotion expression during the first two years of life. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 54, 1–104.Google Scholar
Malatesta, C. Z., & Izard, C. E. (1984). The facial expression of emotion: Young, middle-aged, and older adult expressions. In Malatesta, C. Z. & Izard, C. E. (Eds.), Emotion in adult development (pp. 253–273). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
McElwain, N. L., & Booth-LaForce, C. (2006). Maternal sensitivity to infant distress and nondistress as predictors of infant–mother attachment security. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 247–255.Google Scholar
Metzger, L. J., Paige, S. R., Carson, M. A., Lasko, N. B., Paulus, L. A., Pitman, R. K., et al. (2004). PTSD arousal and depression symptoms associated with increased right-sided parietal EEG asymmetry. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 113, 324–329.Google Scholar
Preacher, K. J., Curran, P. J., & Bauer, D. J. (2006). Computational tools for probing interaction effects in multiple linear regression, multilevel modeling, and latent curve analysis. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 31, 437–448.Google Scholar
Riem, M. M. E., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., van IJzendoorn, M. H., Out, D., & Rombouts, S. A. R. B. (2012). Attachment in the brain: Adult attachment representations predict amygdala and behavioral responses to infant crying. Attachment and Human Development, 14, 533–551.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roisman, G. I. (2007). The psychophysiology of adult attachment relationships: Autonomic reactivity in martial and premarital interactions. Developmental Psychology, 43, 39–53.Google Scholar
Roisman, G. I. (2009). Adult attachment: Toward a rapprochement of methodological cultures. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 122–126.Google Scholar
Roisman, G. I., Tsai, J. L., & Chiang, K.-H. S. (2004). The emotional integration of childhood experience: Physiological, facial expressive, and self-reported emotional response during the Adult Attachment Interview. Developmental Psychology, 40, 776–789.Google Scholar
Teti, D. M., & Cole, P. M. (2011). Parenting at risk: New perspectives, new approaches. Journal of Family Psychology, 25, 625–634.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomarken, A. J., & Davidson, R. J. (1994). Frontal brain activation in repressers and nonrepressors. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 339–349.Google Scholar
Towers, D. N., & Allen, J. J. B. (2009). A better estimate of the internal consistency reliability of frontal EEG asymmetry scores. Psychophysiology, 46, 132–142.Google Scholar
Tsai, J. L., & Levenson, R. W. (1997). Cultural influences on emotional responding: Chinese American and European American dating couples during interpersonal conflict. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 28, 600–625.Google Scholar
Vaughn, B. E., Veríssimo, M., Coppola, G., Bost, K. K., Shin, N., McBride, B., et al. (2006). Maternal attachment script representations: Longitudinal stability and associations with stylistic features of maternal narratives. Attachment and Human Development, 8, 199–208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vaughn, B. E., Waters, H. S., Coppola, G., Cassidy, J., Bost, K. K., & Veríssimo, M. (2006). Script-like attachment representations and behavior in families and across cultures: Studies of parental secure base narratives. Attachment and Human Development, 8, 179–184.Google Scholar
Waters, H. S., & Rodrigues-Doolabh, L. (2004). Manual for decoding secure base narratives. Unpublished manuscript, State University of New York at Stony Brook.Google Scholar
Waters, H. S., & Waters, E. (2006). The attachment working models concept: Among other things, we build script-like representations of secure base experiences. Attachment and Human Development, 8, 185–198.Google Scholar
Wheeler, R. E., Davidson, R. J., & Tomarken, A. J. (1993). Frontal brain asymmetry and emotional reactivity: A biological substrate of affective style. Psychophysiology, 30, 82–89.Google Scholar
Zekoski, E. M., O'Hara, M. W, & Wills, K. E. (1987). The effects of maternal mood on mother–infant interaction. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 15, 361–378.Google Scholar