ATTACHMENT THEORY THROUGH A NEUROBIOLOGICAL LENS: EXPERIENCE-DEPENDENT MATURATION OF THE BRAIN

The infant’s capacity to regulate affect emerges within a delicate, nonverbal, interactive dance, choreographed unconsciously, between her parents and herself (Beebe & Lachmann, 1998) as parents contingently match and attune with their infant’s changing affect states. When parents fail to do this with enough consistency, the infant’s capacity to regulate affect is compromised.