J.A. Gray's model of anxiety as a neurophysiological background of attachment styles
John Bowlby’s attachment theory identifies four patterns in close emotional relationships, that are called attachment styles. Conceptual framework of attachment theory is widely accepted and relied upon by researchers and practitioners in the fields of social and clinical psychology, while its neural underpinnings remain poorly understood. Anxiety and avoidance are the two orthogonal factors underlying the variance between attachment styles. These factors are also central to J.A. Gray’s neuropsychological model of anxiety. In this article Gray’s behavioral inhibition system (BIS) activation is viewed as the neural basis of anxiety that is measured by the socio-psychological model of attachment, and thus а correlation between this model and the neural processes described by Gray is hypothesised. Conflict of goals, detected by the hippocampus, is considered as the neural basis of the fearful-avoidant style, while the conflict between afferent and efferent information flows is viewed as a potential origin of an anxious-preoccupied attachment. The resulting integrative model's consistency with some currently accepted clinical approaches is briefly discussed. Methods for further research on the role of the hippocampus in attachment are suggested.