Researchers, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Reading and University College London
(UCL), found that the quality of the relationship in the first 18-months of life predicted the way in which the brain regulates experiences of positive emotion in young adulthood, 21-years later.
The paper "Making an effort to feel positive: insecure attachment in infancy predicts the neural underpinnings of emotion regulation in adulthood", just published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, reports that the brain activity linked to experiencing positive emotions differed between those who were securely attached to their mothers in infancy and those who did not have a secure attachment. The second group engaged additional brain regions when trying to increase their positive emotions, but to less effect.
The findings are the result of a 22-year long study, which followed parents and children from infancy to adulthood.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-01-reveals-importance-early-parent-child-emotional.html
Full article in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry: Making an effort to feel positive: insecure attachment in infancy predicts the neural underpinnings of emotion regulation in adulthood
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