The influence of attachment representation on parental perception and interpretation of infant emotions: A multilevel approach.

The aim of the study was to investigate parental perception and interpretation of infant emotional expression depending on their attachment representation. Forty-six parents' responses to infant pictures depicting positive, neutral, and negative emotions were assessed on the level of affective judgments (valence, arousal), mimic responses (facial muscle activity), and of the eyelid reflex (using the startle paradigm). Results revealed small differences between parents of different attachment representations with respect to their subjective evaluations.