Attachment is a characteristic of mammals. Therefore, the study on the neurobiology of human attachment is also based on animal research. According to recent research, attachment appears to be based on interference from oxytocin and dopamine in the striatum.
What seems definitive is that, throughout life, the different human attachments share the neurobiology on which they are based, in general they are characterized by the synchrony of behaviors and the integration of cortical and subcortical networks involved in the mechanisms of reward and motivation, embedded simulation and mentalization.
- According to Ruth Feldman.
- A researcher in the field of neurobiology of human attachment.
- The study of mammalian attachment must be conducted from a developmental perspective.
- In fact.
- The associative cerebral cortex is largely linked by initial experiments in child-rearing contexts between 2 and 4 years of age.
Subsequently created ties, whether with loving couples, close friends or group members, reuse the basic mechanism established by the initial mother-child bond during “sensitive periods”.
Are these “sensitive periods” defined as initial and life-specific moments, when the brain must obtain certain environmental inputs for proper maturation (5). In the context of attachment, sensitive periods therefore involve reproductive behaviors typical of the species.
In his research, Dr. Feldman gathers some proposals from the human neurobiology model.
Therefore, it seems that the neurobiology of human attachment is based on the interactions of oxytocin and dopamine in the brain. It also seems that these brain systems are formed during child attachment, so it is interesting to know that these systems are recycled to create the following links. of life, such as friendship or love.