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Conference Agenda

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Daily Overview

Session

Symposium 4.C - Memory, Neural Synchrony, and Attachment Expectations

Time:

Wednesday, 08/July/2026:

10:30am - 12:00pm

Session Chair: Bahar Filiz

Location: AV 00.17 - Lecture hall

AV Auditoriacomplex (122-20), Parkstraat 49, 3000 Leuven

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Presentations

Association Between Adult Attachment Orientations And The Phenomenological Properties Of Autobiographical Memory: Examining Actor-Partner Effects

Bahar Filiz¹, Ali Tekcan²

¹RPTU, Germany, Kaiserslautern; ²Özyeğin University, İstanbul, Türkiye

We examined how attachment anxiety and avoidance are associated with individuals’ own (actor effect) and their partners’ (partner effect) subjective experience of remembering romantic relationship memories. Sixty-nine couples (Mage = 31.77, SD = 9.42) who had been in a romantic relationship for at least 2 years completed the Experience in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) (Fraley et al., 2000). and reported two positive and two negative autobiographical memories from their current romantic relationship. After each memory, they filled out the Memory Experience Questionnaire—Short Form (MEQ-SF). Analyses within the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM_SEM, Stas et al., 2008, https://apimsem.ugent.be/shiny/apim_sem/) indicated that attachment anxiety showed no significant actor or partner effects for phenomenological properties of positive memories. In contrast, individuals with a higher level of attachment avoidance remembered their positive memories in a less emotionally intense manner. Higher level of attachment avoidance was related to lower levels of accessibility of positive memories in men and lower levels of coherence in women. Women whose partners have higher levels of attachment avoidance were more likely to distance themselves from positive memories. For negative memories, attachment anxiety was related to sharing negative memories, and distancing from negative memories for both men and women, and women whose partner had a higher level of attachment anxiety were more likely to share negative memories. Men with higher attachment avoidance remembered their negative romantic relationship-related memories in a less coherent manner. These findings highlight distinct roles of attachment anxiety and avoidance in shaping both individual and dyadic autobiographical remembering within romantic relationships.

When brains sync: maternal bonding, neural synchrony and cognitive development

Debora Suppiger^1,2, Sabino Guglielmini³, Tilman Reinelt², Martin Wolf³, Giancarlo Natalucci²

¹Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Switzerland; ²Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation Center for Neurodevelopment, Growth and Nutrition of the Newborn, University of Zurich, Switzerland; ³Biomedical Optics Research Laboratory, Department of Neonatology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland

Background:
Neural synchrony describes the temporal alignment of neural activity patterns between individuals during social interactions. Higher levels of neural synchrony have consistently been observed within close human relationship (e.g., parent and infant) and have therefore been suggested as a biological marker for attachment. In addition, neural synchrony has been related to improved infant socio-cognitive development. These findings suggest that interpersonal synchrony may be a key mechanism supporting attachment formation during early development, with potential long-term consequences for infant outcomes.

Objective:
The present study aims to examine whether increased mother–infant neural synchrony during social interaction is associated with higher infant cognitive outcomes, and whether this relationship is mediated by maternal bonding.

Methods:
The sample includes N = 101 mother–infant dyads, with infants approximately 7 months of age. Mothers and infants participated in two experimental conditions: (1) a free play interaction involving standardized toys, and (2) a baseline condition in which mother and infant jointly watched a cartoon without direct interaction. Neural activity from both partners was simultaneously recorded using systemic-augmented functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning. Infant cognitive development was assessed at 12 months of infant age using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development. Mothers additionally completed questionnaires assessing maternal bonding (Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire), and potential confounders (e.g., maternal mental health, maternal confidence).

Planned analyses:
Interpersonal neural synchrony will be quantified using wavelet-transform coherence across conditions. We will test whether higher neural synchrony during interactive play predicts infant cognitive outcomes. Mediation analyses will examine whether maternal bonding accounts for associations between neural synchrony and infant cognition, controlling for potential confounders (e.g., maternal mental health, maternal confidence).

The findings may contribute to a clearer understanding of mother-infant neural synchrony as a potential biological marker of attachment and mechanism in supporting cognitive development.

Bonding through the silent expression of emotions

Debora Suppiger^1,2, Tilman Reinelt², Giancarlo Natalucci², Paola Cerrito¹

Background:
The quality of the mother–infant relationship shapes everyday interactions, including the expression of affect. Secure attachment is associated with greater positive affect in infants, whereas impaired maternal bonding has been linked to reduced maternal sensitivity to infant affect. Interpersonal synchrony refers to the temporal alignment of behavioral (e.g., facial expressions) and physiological processes between individuals and has been proposed as a biological marker for attachment. Higher levels of synchrony have been associated with greater maternal sensitivity. However, no study has investigated whether maternal bonding is associated with synchrony of facial expressions between mother and infant.

Objective:
The present study aims to investigate maternal bonding and facial expression patterns during naturalistic mother–infant play interactions. Specifically, we examine (1) whether maternal bonding is associated with maternal facial expression and (2) whether maternal bonding is associated with facial expression synchrony between mothers and their infants.

Methods:
Ninety-one mother–infant dyads (infant age 7.5 months) participated in a free play interaction with standardized toys. Maternal and infant facial muscle action units are quantified with the Noldus Facereader and the Baby Facereader software. Mothers additionally completed questionnaires assessing maternal bonding (Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire) and potential confounders (e.g., maternal mental health).

Planned analyses:

Regression analysis will be used to examine associations between maternal bonding and maternal facial muscle action units. Facial expression synchrony between mothers and infants will be quantified using cross-lagged multilevel models to capture temporal dependencies between maternal and infant facial muscle activation. The synchrony values will then be associated with maternal bonding. Preliminary analysis already indicate that maternal facial expressions predicted infant facial expressions.

These findings are expected to advance our understanding of the dynamic interplay of facial expressions in early mother–infant interactions and clarify how maternal bonding relates to both individual affective expression and dyadic synchrony.