Abstract:

Aiming at the cognition processing defects of individuals with insecure attachment, present study aims to explore the plasticity of insecure attachment and it’s neural mechanism by virtue of attachment security priming. The plasticity of insecure attachment is achieved through the cognitive priming techniques which put insecure individuals in a sensitive and supportive environment. Attachment security priming awakens people’s positive attachment experiences, builds new cognitive schema about attachment relationships, finally, realizes the reconstruction of the internal working model of insecure individuals. Using the behavior-physiology-neural techniques, present study systematically investigates the occurrence mechanism and neural basis of the plasticity of insecure attachment through three aspects. First, examining the effect of conscious and unconscious attachment security priming on cognition processing defects of insecure individuals. Second, exploring the effect of repeated attachment security priming on cognition processing defects of insecure individuals. Third, conducting a longitudinal study to track the effect of the repeated attachment security priming. Present study provides a new perspective for the research of insecure attachment. The attachment schema reconstruction theory developed by present study is the verification and development of the secure-base schema theory. In addition, the examination of repeated attachment security priming effect attempts to build an evaluation standard for the plasticity study of insecure attachment. The present study contributes to the intervention training, the promotion of attachment safety, and the maintenance of mental health for insecure attachment.

Key words: insecure attachment, cognitive processing defects, plasticity, attachment security priming, neuromechanism