Movement and Emotional Facial Expressions during the Adult Attachment Interview: Interaction Effects of Attachment and Anxiety Disorder

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-58
Author(s):  
Uwe Altmann ◽  
Catharina Friemann ◽  
Theresa S. Frank ◽  
Mareike C. Sittler ◽  
Désirée Schoenherr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Interaction Effects ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Psychological Disorder ◽  
Coding System ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Parental Figures

Introduction: Adult attachment is commonly associated with emotion regulation. Less is known about the nonverbal embodiment of adult attachment. Objective: We hypothesized that dismissing attachment is related to less movement and fewer facial expressions of emotions, whereas preoccupied attachment is associated with more negative emotional facial expressions. Moreover, the interaction of attachment and the presence of an anxiety disorder (AD) was explored. Methods: The sample included 95 individuals, 21 with AD without comorbidity, 21 with AD and comorbid major depression (AD-CD), and 53 healthy controls. We analyzed nonverbal behavior during a part of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) asking about the family and parental figures. The movements of the interviewees were captured via Motion Energy Analysis. Facial expressions were coded according to the Facial Action Coding System using the OpenFace software. We compared individuals with secure, dismissing, and preoccupied states of mind (assessed with the AAI) with regard to the frequency and complexity of movements and the frequency of the facial expressions such as happy, sad, and contemptuous. Results: As expected, dismissingly attached individuals moved less often and with lower complexity than securely attached. For emotional facial expressions, a main effect of the disorder group and interaction effects of attachment by disorder were found. In the AD-CD group, dismissingly attached patients showed comparatively fewer happy facial expressions than securely attached individuals. Conclusions: Reduced movement specifically seems to be related to dismissing attachment when interviewees talk about significant parental figures. Facial expressions of emotions related to attachment occurred when maladaptive emotion regulation strategies were intensified by a psychological disorder.

scholarly journals The Identification of Unfolding Facial Expressions

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p7052 ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 532-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Fiorentini ◽  
Susanna Schmidt ◽  
Paolo Viviani
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Salt Lake ◽  
Salt Lake City ◽  
Slow Motion ◽  
Coding System ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Intensity Changes ◽  
Lake City

We asked whether the identification of emotional facial expressions (FEs) involves the simultaneous perception of the facial configuration or the detection of emotion-specific diagnostic cues. We recorded at high speed (500 frames s−1) the unfolding of the FE in five actors, each expressing six emotions (anger, surprise, happiness, disgust, fear, sadness). Recordings were coded every 10 frames (20 ms of real time) with the Facial Action Coding System (FACS, Ekman et al 2002, Salt Lake City, UT: Research Nexus eBook) to identify the facial actions contributing to each expression, and their intensity changes over time. Recordings were shown in slow motion (1/20 of recording speed) to one hundred observers in a forced-choice identification task. Participants were asked to identify the emotion during the presentation as soon as they felt confident to do so. Responses were recorded along with the associated response times (RTs). The RT probability density functions for both correct and incorrect responses were correlated with the facial activity during the presentation. There were systematic correlations between facial activities, response probabilities, and RT peaks, and significant differences in RT distributions for correct and incorrect answers. The results show that a reliable response is possible long before the full FE configuration is reached. This suggests that identification is reached by integrating in time individual diagnostic facial actions, and does not require perceiving the full apex configuration.

scholarly journals Attachment in adolescence: A move to the level of emotion regulation

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph P. Allen ◽  
Erin M. Miga
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Unexpected Finding ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Social Emotion ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Interactions With Peers

The early adolescent’s state of mind in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) is more closely linked to social interactions with peers, who are unlikely to serve as attachment figures, than it is to (i) qualities of the adolescent’s interactions with parents, (ii) the AAI of the adolescent’s mother, or (iii) the adolescent’s prior Strange Situation behavior. This unexpected finding suggests the value of reconceptualizing AAI autonomy/ security as a marker of the adolescent’s capacity for emotion regulation in social interactions. Supporting this, we note that the AAI was originally validated not as a marker of attachment experiences or expectations with one’s caregivers, but as a predictor of caregiving capacity sufficient to produce secure offspring. As such, the AAI may be fruitfully viewed as primarily assessing social emotion regulation capacities that support both strong caregiving skills and strong skills relating with peers.

Language use in the Adult Attachment Interview: Evidence for attachment-specific emotion regulation

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
JESSICA L. BORELLI ◽  
DARYN H. DAVID ◽  
ANNE RIFKIN-GRABOI ◽  
DAVID A. SBARRA ◽  
MATTHIAS R. MEHL ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Specific Emotion

Using Facial Expressions to Probe Brain Circuitry Associated With Anxiety and Depression

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johnna R. Swartz ◽  
Lisa M. Shin ◽  
Brenda Lee ◽  
Ahmad R. Hariri
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Major Depressive ◽  
Brain Circuitry ◽  
Brain Circuit ◽  
Circuit Function ◽  
At Risk Adolescents

Emotional facial expressions are processed by a distributed corticolimbic brain circuit including the amygdala, which plays a central role in detecting and responding to emotional expressions, and the prefrontal cortex, which evaluates, integrates, and regulates responses to emotional expressions. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to probe circuit function can reveal insights into the pathophysiology of mood and anxiety disorders. In this chapter, we review fMRI research into corticolimbic circuit processing of emotional facial expressions in social anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, specific phobia, and major depressive disorder. We conclude by reviewing recent research examining how variability in circuit function may help predict the future experience of symptoms in young adults and at-risk adolescents, as well as how such variability relates to personality traits associated with psychopathology risk.

scholarly journals Facial Affect and Interpersonal Affiliation: Displays of Emotion During Relationship Formation in Social Anxiety Disorder

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 826-839 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah L. Pearlstein ◽  
Charles T. Taylor ◽  
Murray B. Stein
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Facial Affect ◽  
Coding System ◽  
Relationship Formation ◽  
Treatment Target ◽  
Interaction Partners ◽  
Automated Software

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) often involves difficulty developing relationships. Facial expressions are important in relationship formation, but data are limited regarding facial display production among persons with SAD during social interaction. The current study compared facial displays of individuals diagnosed with SAD ( n = 41) to control participants ( n = 24) as they interacted with a confederate; confederates and observers then rated their desire for future interaction with participants. Automated software used the Facial Action Coding System to classify displays. During portions of the interaction that involved listening to partners, the SAD group smiled less frequently and less intensely than controls, and less smiling was associated with others’ lower desire for future interaction with participants. Diminished positive facial affect in response to interaction partners may disrupt relationship formation in SAD and may serve as an effective treatment target.

Comparable Modulation of the Late Positive Potential by Emotion Regulation in Younger and Older Adults

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 186-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra J. E. Langeslag ◽  
Jan W. Van Strien
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Late Positive Potential ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Apparent Discrepancy ◽  
Positive Potential ◽  
Psychophysiological Responses ◽  
Psychophysiological Measures ◽  
Emotional Pictures

It has been suggested that emotion regulation improves with aging. Here, we investigated age differences in emotion regulation by studying modulation of the late positive potential (LPP) by emotion regulation instructions. The electroencephalogram of younger (18–26 years) and older (60–77 years) adults was recorded while they viewed neutral, unpleasant, and pleasant pictures and while they were instructed to increase or decrease the feelings that the emotional pictures elicited. The LPP was enhanced when participants were instructed to increase their emotions. No age differences were observed in this emotion regulation effect, suggesting that emotion regulation abilities are unaffected by aging. This contradicts studies that measured emotion regulation by self-report, yet accords with studies that measured emotion regulation by means of facial expressions or psychophysiological responses. More research is needed to resolve the apparent discrepancy between subjective self-report and objective psychophysiological measures.

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