Muted neural response to distress among securely attached people.

Kyle Nash, Mike Prentice, Jacob Hirsh, Ian McGregor, Michael Inzlicht

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

The convergent neuroscience of Christian prayer and attachment relationships in the context of mental health: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2025
Pooled it
Political Orientation as Psychological Defense or Basic Disposition? A Social Neuroscience Examination.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2022
Trial
The mere presence of an outgroup member disrupts the brain's feedback-monitoring system.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2016
Trial
A new variation of modern prejudice: young Korean men's anti-feminism and male-victim ideology.Frontiers in psychology · 2023
Review
Activating the attachment system modulates neural responses to threat in refugees with PTSD.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2021
Article
Motivation for aggressive religious radicalization: goal regulation theory and a personality × threat × affordance hypothesis.Frontiers in psychology · 2015
Article

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Kyle NashDepartment of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-2500, USA, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3E6, Canada, and Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada kyle.nash@unibas.ch.

Mike PrenticeDepartment of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-2500, USA, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3E6, Canada, and Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada.

Jacob HirshDepartment of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-2500, USA, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3E6, Canada, and Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada.

Ian McGregorDepartment of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-2500, USA, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3E6, Canada, and Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada.

Michael InzlichtDepartment of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-2500, USA, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3E6, Canada, and Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Neural processes that support individual differences in attachment security and affect regulation are currently unclear. Using electroencephalography, we examined whether securely attached individuals, compared with insecure individuals, would show a muted neural response to experimentally manipulated distress. Participants completed a reaction time task that elicits error commission and the error-related negativity (ERN)-a neural signal sensitive to error-related distress-both before and after a distressing insecurity threat. Despite similar pre-threat levels, secure participants showed a stable ERN, whereas insecure participants showed a post-threat increase in ERN amplitude. These results suggest a neural mechanism that allows securely attached people to regulate distress.

Indexed as

Social BehaviorAdolescentAnxietyBrainElectroencephalographyEmotionsFemaleHumansIndividualityMaleNeuropsychological TestsStress, PsychologicalSurveys and Questionnairesattachmentdistresserror-related negativitysecurity

Identifiers

PMID23887815

DOI10.1093/scan/nst099

PMCPMC4127024

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.