About this Research Topic
This Research Topic is part of the article collection series, Neuroscience of Human Attachment.
Attachment is a biological emotion regulation-based system guiding cognitive and emotional processes with respect to intimate and significant relationships. The experience of biobehavioral synchrony in the first months of life sets the biological and behavioral systems that provide optimal parenting and caregiving to the next generation. Within the intergenerational transmission of attachment adverse attachment experiences like maltreatment, loss, and separation have long been known to have enduring consequences on human mental health. Research on the neurobiological basis of attachment started with animal studies focusing on emotional deprivation and its behavioral, molecular, and endocrine consequences.
More recently, the neurobiological basis of attachment in humans has been investigated using an array of different methodologies (fMRI, EEG, genetics, neurophysiology, endocrinological probes, and pharmacological manipulation using, for example, oxytocin). These studies have investigated attachment in relation to a range of other behavioral systems and developmental dimensions. For instance, behavioral attachment systems such as caregiving, sexual, affiliative, as well as mentalization, and attachment representations. A large number of these studies have focused on healthy populations, but in the meanwhile, there have been increasing attempts to shed light on the neural correlates of attachment processes in clinical samples.
In this Research Topic, we welcome original research and critical reviews that address issues in the neurobiological domain of any aspect of attachment that highlights promising avenues for basic research related to developmental psychopathology or the translation of attachment studies into the clinical setting. In this way, we aim to achieve an interdisciplinary synthesis of existing knowledge and new perspectives on attachment, including diagnostic measures, which may be fruitful to develop preventive and psychotherapeutic interventions for different age groups.
Attachment is a biological emotion regulation-based system guiding cognitive and emotional processes with respect to intimate and significant relationships. The experience of biobehavioral synchrony in the first months of life sets the biological and behavioral systems that provide optimal parenting and caregiving to the next generation. Within the intergenerational transmission of attachment adverse attachment experiences like maltreatment, loss, and separation have long been known to have enduring consequences on human mental health. Research on the neurobiological basis of attachment started with animal studies focusing on emotional deprivation and its behavioral, molecular, and endocrine consequences.
More recently, the neurobiological basis of attachment in humans has been investigated using an array of different methodologies (fMRI, EEG, genetics, neurophysiology, endocrinological probes, and pharmacological manipulation using, for example, oxytocin). These studies have investigated attachment in relation to a range of other behavioral systems and developmental dimensions. For instance, behavioral attachment systems such as caregiving, sexual, affiliative, as well as mentalization, and attachment representations. A large number of these studies have focused on healthy populations, but in the meanwhile, there have been increasing attempts to shed light on the neural correlates of attachment processes in clinical samples.
In this Research Topic, we welcome original research and critical reviews that address issues in the neurobiological domain of any aspect of attachment that highlights promising avenues for basic research related to developmental psychopathology or the translation of attachment studies into the clinical setting. In this way, we aim to achieve an interdisciplinary synthesis of existing knowledge and new perspectives on attachment, including diagnostic measures, which may be fruitful to develop preventive and psychotherapeutic interventions for different age groups.
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