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REVIEW article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Developmental Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1296242

A perspective-based analysis of attachment from prenatal period to second year postnatal life

Provisionally accepted
Erica Santaguida Erica Santaguida *Massimo Bergamasco Massimo Bergamasco *
  • Institute of Mechanical Intelligence, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Attachment is one of the foundational themes in the history of the psychological development of human beings. For this reason, we assume that it must be approached by taking into account multiple scientific perspectives. The present review aims at analyzing the state of the art regarding the genetic, neurobiological and cognitive mechanisms underlying the development of attachment bonding, considering the child as the frame of reference. We hypothesize that attachment may be present in prototypical forms even in the prenatal period, thus our analysis has a temporal origin in the intrauterine period preceding birth. The intrauterine period is assumed to be a period of maximum sensitivity to stimuli and in particular to those coming from a potential primary caregiver: the biological mother. We conclude with a reframing of the state of the art and propose that future research work would benefit from a superordinate model of attachment, capable of containing and regulating all its components and variables.

    Keywords: Attachment development, Prenatal attachment, Genetics, Neurobiology, Cognition

    Received: 18 Sep 2023; Accepted: 08 May 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Santaguida and Bergamasco. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Erica Santaguida, Institute of Mechanical Intelligence, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy
    Massimo Bergamasco, Institute of Mechanical Intelligence, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.