Visualizing the Invisible Tie: Linking Parent-Child Neural Synchrony to Parents’ and Children’s Attachment Representations

It is a central tenet of attachment theory that individual differences in attachment representations organize behavior during social interactions. Secure attachment representations also facilitate behavioral synchrony, a key component of adaptive parent-child interactions. Yet, the dynamic neural processes underlying these interactions and the potential role of attachment representations remain largely unknown. A growing body of research indicates that interpersonal neural synchrony (INS) could be a potential neurobiological correlate of high interaction and relationship quality. In this study, we examined whether interpersonal neural and behavioral synchrony during parent-child interaction are associated with parent and child attachment representations. In total, 140 parents (74 mothers and 66 fathers) and their children (age 5-6 years; 60 girls and 80 boys) engaged in cooperative versus individual problem-solving. INS in frontal and temporal regions was assessed with functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning. Attachment representations were ascertained by means of the Adult Attachment Interview in parents and a story-completion task in children, alongside video-coded behavioral synchrony. Findings revealed increased INS during cooperative versus individual problem solving across all dyads (𝛸2(2)=9.37, p=.009). Remarkably, individual differences in attachment representations were associated with INS but not behavioral synchrony (p>.159) during cooperation. More specifically, insecure maternal attachment representations were related to higher mother-child INS in frontal regions (𝛸2(3)=9.18, p=.027). Conversely, secure daughter attachment representations were related to higher daughter-parent INS within temporal regions (𝛸2(3)=12.58, p=.006). Our data thus provide further indication for INS as a promising correlate to probe the neurobiological underpinnings of attachment representations in the context of early parent-child interactions.