Individual Attachment Style Modulates Human Amygdala and Striatum Activation during Social Appraisal

Adult attachment style refers to individual personality traits that strongly influence emotional bonds and reactions to social partners. Behavioral research has shown that adult attachment style reflects profound differences in sensitivity to social signals of support or conflict, but the neural substrates underlying such differences remain unsettled. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined how the three classic prototypes of attachment style (secure, avoidant, anxious) modulate brain responses to facial expressions conveying either positive or negative feedback about task performance (either supportive or hostile) in a social game context. Activation of striatum and ventral tegmental area was enhanced to positive feedback signaled by a smiling face, but this was reduced in participants with avoidant attachment, indicating relative impassiveness to social reward. Conversely, a left amygdala response was evoked by angry faces associated with negative feedback, and correlated positively with anxious attachment, suggesting an increased sensitivity to social punishment. Secure attachment showed mirror effects in striatum and amygdala, but no other specific correlate. These results reveal a critical role for brain systems implicated in reward and threat processing in the biological underpinnings of adult attachment style, and provide new support to psychological models that have postulated two separate affective dimensions to explain these individual differences, centered on the ventral striatum and amygdala circuits, respectively. These findings also demonstrate that brain responses to face expressions are not driven by facial features alone but determined by the personal significance of expressions in current social context. By linking fundamental psychosocial dimensions of adult attachment with brain function, our results do not only corroborate their biological bases but also help understand their impact on behavior

Cavolina Abildgaard, 1791 (Gastropoda): proposed emendation under the Plenary Powers to Cavolinia

Volume: 21Start Page: 45End Page: 4

Cadlina Bergh, 1878 (Gastropoda): proposed validation under the plenary powers Z.N. (S.) 582

Volume: 22Start Page: 51End Page: 5

Pelta Quatrefages, 1844, or Runcina Forbes, 1851 (Gastropoda); two competing names for a place on the official list

Volume: 22Start Page: 49End Page: 5

Proposed use of the Plenary Powers to secure that the specific name obtusa Montagu 1803, as published in the combination Bulla obtusa, shall be the oldest available name for the species currently known by that name (class Gastropoda, order Tectibranchiat

Volume: 12Start Page: 323End Page: 32

Aeolidia Guvier, 1797 (Gastropoda): proposed addition to the Official List

Volume: 21Start Page: 116End Page: 11

Cuthonidae/Tergipedidae: emendations to application Z.N. (S.) 1044

Volume: 22Start Page:

Embletonia Alder & Hancock, 1851 (Gastropoda): proposed validation under the Plenary Powers

Volume: 21Start Page: 123End Page: 12