Development and Psychopathology, 15 (2003), 219–237 Copyright  2003 Cambridge University Press Printed in the United States of America DOI: 10.1017.S0954579403000129 Selective processing of threatening information: Effects of attachment representation and anxiety disorder on attention and memory INGEBORG A. ZEIJLMANS VAN EMMICHOVEN, a MARINUS H. VAN IJZENDOORN, b CORINE DE RUITER, c AND JOS F. BROSSCHOT b a University of Amsterdam; b Leiden University; and c Dr. Henri van der Hoeven Kliniek Abstract To investigate the effect of the mental representation of attachment on information processing, 28 anxiety disorder outpatients, as diagnosed by the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule—Revised, were administered the Adult Attachment Interview and the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory. They also completed an emotional Stroop task with subliminal and supraliminal exposure conditions, a free recall memory task, and a recognition test. All tasks contained threatening, neutral, and positively valenced stimuli. A nonclinical comparison group of 56 participants completed the same measures. Results on the Stroop task showed color-naming interference for threatening words in the supraliminal condition only. Nonclinical participants with insecure attachment representations showed a global response inhibition to the Stroop task. Clinical participants with secure attachment representations showed the largest Stroop interference of the threatening words compared to the other groups. Results on the free recall task showed superior recall of all types of stimuli by participants with secure attachment representations. In the outpatient group, participants with secure attachment representations showed superior recall of threatening words on the free recall task, compared to insecure participants. Results on the recognition task showed no differences between attachment groups. We conclude that secure attachment representations are characterized by open communication about and processing of threatening information, leading to less defensive exclusion of negative material during the attentional stage of information processing and to better recall of threatening information in a later stage. Attachment insecurity, but not the type of insecurity, seems a decisive factor in attention and memory processes. Mental representations of attachment in adults search but has not yet been investigated extensively (Belsky, Spritz, & Crnic, 1996; are thought to regulate cognition and behavior through the selective processing of attach- Bretherton & Munholland, 1999; Kirsh & Cassidy, 1997; Lynch & Cicchetti, 1991; ment-relevant information. This notion is ba- sic to recent developments in attachment re- Main, 1999). Belsky et al. (1996) noted that the concept of attachment representations (or internal working models of attachment) is The authors acknowledge the statistical support of Wil- routinely invoked to explain or predict empiri- lem van der Kloot and the constructive comments of the reviewers. The contributions of the first and the second cal findings, and there is little empirical evi- authors to this paper are equal. dence to substantiate this latent variable. The Address correspondence and reprint requests to: study reported in this paper is an attempt to Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, Center for Child and Family experimentally investigate the impact of at- Studies, Leiden University, PO Box 9555, NL-2300 RB tachment representations on the processing of Leiden, The Netherlands; E-mail: vanijzen@fsw.leiden univ.nl. affective information. 219