Alexithymia Predicts Arousal-based Processing Deficits and Discordance between Emotion Response Systems during Emotional Imagery (original) (raw)

Deficits in early emotional reactivity in alexithymia

Psychophysiology, 2008

Alexithymia is characterized by a difficulty in identifying and describing one's emotions. This study addressed the question of whether alexithymic tendencies are related to limited affective reactivity to briefly presented emotional stimuli. Skin conductance responses were assessed and backward masking was used to minimize elaborated processing of emotional pictures. Results indicated that alexithymic tendencies are associated with smaller electrodermal responses to briefly presented negative pictures. These effects were driven by difficulties in identifying and communicating emotions whereas externally orientated thinking was unrelated to affective reactivity. We conclude that there is an early processing deficit in response to negative stimuli in participants with high scores in alexithymia. Differences in the early emotional reactivity to arousing material could contribute to difficulties in emotional processes related to alexithymia. Figure 2. Mean valence and arousal scores for subjects with high (HDA) and low (LDA) degrees of alexithymia. n po.05.

Emotion processing deficits in alexithymia and response to a depth of processing intervention

Biological Psychology, 2014

Findings on alexithymic emotion difficulties have been inconsistent. We examined potential differences between alexithymic and control participants in general arousal, reactivity, facial and subjective expression, emotion labeling, and covariation between emotion response systems. A depth of processing intervention was introduced. Fifty-four participants (27 alexithymic), selected using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, completed an imagery experiment (imagining joy, fear and neutral scripts), under instructions for shallow or deep emotion processing. Heart rate, skin conductance, facial electromyography and startle reflex were recorded along with subjective ratings. Results indicated hypo-reactivity to emotion among high alexithymic individuals, smaller and slower startle responses, and low covariation between physiology and self-report. No deficits in facial expression, labeling and emotion ratings were identified. Deep processing was associated with increased physiological reactivity and lower perceived dominance and arousal in high alexithymia. Findings suggest a tendency for avoidance of intense, unpleasant emotions and less defensive action preparation in alexithymia.

Alexithymia and perception of emotional information: A review of experimental psychological findings

Alexithymia represents a personality trait construct characterized primarily by difficulties in the capacity to identify and verbalize emotions. In the present paper, we review the existing results from psychological studies based on behavioral methods with respect to the automatic and controlled processing of external emotional information (i.e. originating outside of the body). There is evidence that alexithymia is associated with impairments in the ability to label and recognize emotional facial expression and lexical stimuli at a controlled processing level. In addition, there is preliminary evidence for a relation between alexithymia and reduced automatic attention allocation to emotional lexical stimuli. In the large majority of previous studies alexithymic characteristics have been assessed by selfreport instruments. To reach stronger conclusions about emotion perception in alexithymia future research has to complement self-descriptive with objective or direct measures of alexithymia such as standardized interview methods.

Neural correlates of alexithymia: A meta-analysis of emotion processing studies

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2013

Alexithymia is a personality trait characterized by difficulties in the experience and cognitive processing of emotions. It is considered a risk factor for a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders. Functional neuroimaging studies investigating the neural correlates of alexithymia have reported inconsistent results. To integrate previous findings, we conducted a parametric coordinate-based meta-analysis including fifteen neuroimaging studies on emotion processing in alexithymia. During the processing of negative emotional stimuli, alexithymia was associated with a diminished response of the amygdala, suggesting decreased attention to such stimuli. Negative stimuli additionally elicited decreased activation in supplementary motor and premotor brain areas and in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, possibly underlying poor empathic abilities and difficulties in emotion regulation associated with alexithymia. Positive stimuli elicited decreased activation in the right insula and precuneus, suggesting reduced emotional awareness in alexithymia regarding positive affect. Independent of valence, higher (presumably compensatory) activation was found in the dorsal anterior cingulate possibly indicating increased cognitive demand. These results suggest valence-specific as well as valence-independent effects of alexithymia on the neural processing of emotions.

Recent Developments in Alexithymia Theory and Research

The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 2000

Objective: To review recent developments in alexithymia theory and research that are relevant to the field of psychosomatic medicine. Method: Articles were selected from the alexithymia literature published over the past decade that describe advances in the theoretical understanding of alexithymia or report empirical investigations of the relationships of the construct with emotion regulation and with somatic illness and disease. Empirical investigations of the neural correlates of alexithymia were reviewed also, as were studies that explore therapeutic attempts to modify alexithymic characteristics. Results: The salient features of the alexithymia construct are now thought to reflect deficits in the cognitive processing and regulation of emotions. This is supported by studies showing that alexithymia is associated with maladaptive styles of emotion regulation, low emotional intelligence, a bidirectional interhemispheric transfer deficit, and reduced rapid eye movement (REM) density...

Regulation of emotions during experimental stress in alexithymia

Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 2007

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine whether deficits in emotion regulation manifest as a relative lack of congruence between subjective reports of emotion and autonomic activity when confronted with stressors. Methods: A pool of 830 university students was screened using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-Revised for deficits in emotion regulation associated with alexithymia. Those meeting a criterion floor cutoff and other inclusion criteria composed the experimental group and were matched on age, gender, and race to those in the control group. A final sample size of 94 students (47 in each group) was presented with experimental stressor tasks (the Stroop task and a conversation task) in counterbalanced order while autonomic activity data (heart rate and skin conductance) and subjective reports of negative affect were continuously collected during baseline, stressor exposure, and recovery periods. Data were analyzed to determine relative differences in congruence between the autonomic and subjective measures. Results: Data suggested that participants high in emotion regulation deficits reported consistently higher subjective negative affect relative to those without such deficits throughout baseline, stressor exposure, and recovery periods. However, autonomic activity remained nearly identical in both groups across phases. Explicit tests of group differences in congruence between autonomic and subjective emotion measures also partly supported evidence of subjective hyperarousal. Conclusions: Deficits in emotion regulation, as evidenced in those with high levels of the alexithymic trait, appear to manifest as chronically elevated subjective negative affect relative to autonomic activity regardless of the level of environmental demands. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Alexithymia and the processing of emotional stimuli: An experimental study

SUMMARY: The emotion processing capacities of 16 alezi. thymic students and 54 non-ale%ithymic students were compared using a modified Stroop task in which subjects named the colours of neutral words, arousal words, and baseline stimuli. Both the ale%ithymic students and the non-alexithymic students took lo1f8er to colour-name arou-sal words than to colour-name neutral words and baseline stimuli. However, consistent with the view that alexithy-mia reflects a deficit in the ability cognitively to process and modulate emotional stimuli, the ale%ithymic students took significantly longer than the non-alexithymic students to colour-name arousal words. The groups did not differ significantly in their ability to colour-name neutral words and baseline stimuli.