The Effect of Feedback on Electrophysiological Signal Complexity as a Function of Attachment Style

Attachment theory has been applied to various domains, including developmental, clinical, and social psychology. It has been instrumental in understanding the mechanisms underlying interpersonal relationships, mental health, and well-being. The attachment profiles can be divided into several styles, but the most basic set comprises two basic attachment styles, secure and insecure. Today, the current practice of measuring attachment typically involves using self-report questionnaires or interviews. However, the self-report data may be influenced by social desirability or other factors that may conceal or distort the respondents true feelings or opinions. Therefore, in this study, we will try to rely on an objective assessment of the attachment style by analyzing scalp EEG brain recordings. Specifically, we sought to investigate whether signal complexity, derived by using the method of Lempel Ziv Complexity (LZC), could differentiate between insecure and secure attachment styles based on a success or failure feedback given in the context of a flanker task. A significant interaction between attachment style and feedback type was found due to the change in complexity level between success and failure as a function of attachment type. Secure players were associated with an increase in complexity level between success and failure, whereas for insecure players no change was observed between these conditions. These results may be explained by different mechanisms of emotional regulation that are employed by secure and insecure participants. Possibilities for future research were also discussed.