INFANT ATTACHMENT SECURITY AND AFFECTIVE-COGNITIVE INFORMATION-PROCESSING AT AGE 3

Three-year olds' attention toward and memory of affectively laden info rmation presented in specially designed puppet shows were examined to test the hypothesis, based on Bowlby's theory of attachment and the in ternal-working-model construct central to the theory, that children wi th secure attachment histories (measured at 12 months) would prove les s distractable during positive than negative events and would remember positive events more accurately than negative events, with the revers e bring true of children with insecure attachment histories. Support f or this hypothesis emerged in the case of memory but not attention (fo r which no attachment effects emerged), evert when infants' temperamen t-emotionality and general verbal intelligence were taken into conside ration. Results are discussed in terms of life-course implications of affective-cognitive information processing and directions for future r esearch.