The cognitive compass of attachment : How primed security and insecurity navigate mental representations

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dc.abstract.enBackground: This study examined the domain-specific patterns associated with supraliminal attachment priming on the cognitive accessibility of attachmentrelated mental representations. Methods: Seventy participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: attachment-insecurity priming, attachment-security priming, or a non-attachment control (non-primed reference) condition. Participants underwent supraliminal priming via a guided imagery task specific to their condition, followed by a lexical decision task measuring reaction times for five word categories: proximity-related, distance-related, positive, negative, and neutral words. Results: Relative differences between priming conditions emerged exclusively for attachment-related word categories. Participants in the attachmentinsecurity priming condition showed faster reaction times to both proximity- and distance-related words relative to the non-primed reference condition. In contrast, participants in the attachment-security priming condition showed faster reaction times to proximity-related words than the non-primed reference condition only at low levels of attachment anxiety; no such differences were observed at higher levels of anxiety. Reaction times to distance-related words did not differ between the security priming and non-primed reference conditions. Attachment avoidance did not moderate any effects. Bayesian analyses provided affirmative evidence for the absence of priming effects in positive, negative, and neutral word categories. Given the observed effect sizes, moderation trendlevel patterns should be interpreted as exploratory. Conclusion: These findings advance understanding of attachment system dynamics by showing that differences between insecurity and security priming in attachment-related processing depend on attachment anxiety.
dc.affiliationWydział Psychologii i Prawa w Poznaniu
dc.affiliationInstytut Psychologii
dc.affiliationCentrum Badań nad Rozwojem Osobowości
dc.contributor.authorKamza, Anna
dc.date.access2026-02-10
dc.date.accessioned2026-02-10T08:30:18Z
dc.date.available2026-02-10T08:30:18Z
dc.date.created2026-01-12
dc.date.issued2026-02-06
dc.description.accesstimeafter_publication
dc.description.grantnumber2021/05/X/HS6/00044
dc.description.grantnumber4008-A5-05
dc.description.granttitleWeryfikacja procedury nadprogowej aktywacji systemu przywiązania w dorosłości: badanie pilotażowe
dc.description.granttitleSWPS University Research Development Fund
dc.description.physical1-19
dc.description.sdgGoodHealthAndWellBeing
dc.description.versionfinal_published
dc.description.volume17
dc.identifier.doi10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1713752
dc.identifier.eissn1664-1078
dc.identifier.urihttps://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/2174
dc.languageen
dc.pbn.affiliationpsychologia
dc.rightsCC-BY
dc.rights.questionYes_rights
dc.share.articleOPEN_JOURNAL
dc.subject.enattachment anxiety
dc.subject.enattachment avoidance
dc.subject.enattachment priming
dc.subject.enattachment system
dc.subject.encognitive accessibility
dc.subject.enindividual differences
dc.swps.sciencecloudsend
dc.titleThe cognitive compass of attachment : How primed security and insecurity navigate mental representations
dc.title.journalFrontiers in Psychology
dc.typeJournalArticle
dspace.entity.typeArticle