15:30 - 17:00
Mon—Casino_1.801—Poster1—18
Mon-Poster1
Room:
Room: Casino_1.801
Exploring attachment styles and their association with attentional network efficiency
Mon—Casino_1.801—Poster1—1803
Presented by: Lara Fetzer
Lara Fetzer *
University of Ulm, Department of General Psychology
According to Posner and Rothbart (2007), parental care is thought to play an important role in the development of the attentional network. The present study aimed to empirically test this proposition by examining whether experienced parental care, reflected in attachment styles, is associated with attentional network efficiency. Two exploratory online studies, conducted via PsyToolkit.org with identical design, examined this relationship using the Attention Network Test (ANT). The stimuli were attachment-neutral. The first study included 91 undergraduate participants (M = 20.63 years, SD = 2.72; 84% female, 16% male) recruited through an undergraduate course. The second study included 65 adult participants (M = 26.85 years, SD = 7.60; 78% female, 20% male, 2% diverse) recruited through SurveyCircle. Attachment dimensions (secure, avoidant, anxious) were assessed using the German State Adult Attachment Measure (SAAM). While neither study yielded statistically significant results, the combined data set revealed weak correlations: avoidant attachment was positively correlated with the executive effect (r = .17, p < .05) and negatively correlated with the alerting effect (r = -.16, p < .05). These findings may support the hypothesis of an effect of attachment on the efficiency of the attentional networks, but should be interpreted with caution, as the confidence intervals of the correlations include zero and the range restriction (~80% securely attached participants) limits the variability in attachment dimensions. Future studies should investigate whether the relationship between avoidant attachment and reduced attentional network performance persists, using experimental designs such as attachment priming.
Keywords: Attentional Networks, Attention Network Test (ANT), SAAM, Attachment dimensions, Avoidance