According to attachment theory, internal working models of attachment affect the way in which social and emotional information is processed. The current study examined this theoretical claim by investigating the association between attachment security and attention to facial emotional expressions in 5‐year‐old children. Attachment security was assessed on a representational level using an Attachment Story Completion Task. Children's attention to facial emotional expressions was measured during an eye‐tracking task. Gaze data (fixation duration) were collected during the presentation of pictures displaying five different facial emotional expressions (neutral, angry, fearful, sad, and happy) of unfamiliar persons. Moreover, the Emotionality‐Activity‐Sociability Temperament Inventory was used to control for children's temperament and was filled out by children's mothers. Regression analyses revealed that attachment security was a significant predictor of children's attention to neutral and sad expressions while controlling for age, gender, and temperament. Moreover, a t‐test revealed that securely attached children looked longer at the fearful expression than insecurely attached children. These findings provide direct evidence that even on a basic perceptional level attachment security is a predictor of children's emotional information processing.

中文翻译：

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对学龄前儿童的依恋安全性和对面部情感表达的关注：一项眼动追踪研究。

根据依恋理论，依恋的内部工作模型会影响处理社交和情感信息的方式。当前的研究通过调查5岁儿童的依恋安全性和对面部情绪表情的注意之间的联系，检验了这一理论主张。使用“附件案例完成任务”在代表级别上评估了附件安全性。在眼球跟踪任务中测量了孩子对面部情绪表达的注意。在展示陌生人五种不同的面部表情（中立，愤怒，恐惧，悲伤和快乐）的图片展示期间，收集了凝视数据（注视持续时间）。此外，使用情绪－活动－社交能力气质量表来控制儿童的 气质，并被孩子们的母亲充实。回归分析表明，依恋安全性是控制年龄，性别和气质的同时，孩子注意中性和悲伤表情的重要预测指标。此外，t检验显示，与没有安全感的儿童相比，有安全感的儿童对这种恐惧表情的期待时间更长。这些发现提供了直接的证据，证明即使在基本的认知水平上，依恋的安全性也是儿童情感信息处理的预测指标。