Evolutionary models of human attachment suggest that periods
of parental and romantic bond formation share underlying
mechanisms. In this study, we examined brain response to salient
attachment cues in three distinct components of information
processing in new parents and new lovers using ERP. Overall,
the results support evolutionary perspectives by demonstrating
increased initial attention and orienting responses to infant cues
among both parents and new lovers. Specifically, three main findings
emerged. First, while viewing an unfamiliar infantface, parents
and lovers exhibited greater activation at 140–160 ms (N170) and
300–500 ms (P3a but not P300) post-stimulus as compared to
romantically unattached singles. Such increased activations, found
in lateralized–occipital and frontal–central scalp areas, imply that
the new experience of being a parent or newly involved in a romantic
relationship strengthens perceptually driven brain patterns that
are involved in the processing of parenting-relevant cues. These
results lend support to perspectives contending that parental and
romantic attachment share some common mechanisms (Carter
et al., 2005), and suggest that already in the first stages of falling in
love these evolutionary-based processes begin to be activated.
With regard to the P300 component, a different pattern emerged
in parents and lovers, with parents showing lower mean amplitudes
towards unfamiliar infant faces as compared to lovers and
singles. This shift in cortical activation was explained by th