Neural and verbal responses to attachment-schema narratives differ based on past and current caregiving experiences

Children's caregiving experiences impact the internal models they use to process new emotional events. Examining inter-subject functional correlation in 7- to 15-year-olds during narrative movies depicting separation and reunion, we find that secure attachment to current caregivers plays a larger role than early adversity in shaping prefrontal-amygdala connectivity. Secure attachment also decreased the emphasis in later memory on separation elements in the narrative.