Alexithymia influences brain activation during emotion perception but not regulation

Jorien van der Velde; Paula M Gromann; Marte Swart; Durk Wiersma; Lieuwe de Haan; Richard Bruggeman; Lydia Krabbendam; André Aleman

doi:10.1093/scan/nsu056

Alexithymia influences brain activation during emotion perception but not regulation

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2015 Feb;10(2):285-93. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsu056. Epub 2014 Apr 23.

Authors

Jorien van der Velde¹, Paula M Gromann², Marte Swart², Durk Wiersma², Lieuwe de Haan², Richard Bruggeman², Lydia Krabbendam², André Aleman³

Affiliations

¹ Neuroimaging Center, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, 9713 AW Groningen, The Netherlands, Department of Educational Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Education, VU University Amsterdam, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Lentis, Center for Mental Healthcare, 9725 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Department of Psychiatry & Rob Giel Research Center, University Medical Center Groningen, 9713 GZ Groningen, The Netherlands, Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Groningen, 9712 TS Groningen, The Netherlands jorien.van.der.velde@umcg.nl.
² Neuroimaging Center, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, 9713 AW Groningen, The Netherlands, Department of Educational Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Education, VU University Amsterdam, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Lentis, Center for Mental Healthcare, 9725 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Department of Psychiatry & Rob Giel Research Center, University Medical Center Groningen, 9713 GZ Groningen, The Netherlands, Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Groningen, 9712 TS Groningen, The Netherlands.
³ Neuroimaging Center, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, 9713 AW Groningen, The Netherlands, Department of Educational Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Education, VU University Amsterdam, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Lentis, Center for Mental Healthcare, 9725 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Department of Psychiatry & Rob Giel Research Center, University Medical Center Groningen, 9713 GZ Groningen, The Netherlands, Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Groningen, 9712 TS Groningen, The Netherlands Neuroimaging Center, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, 9713 AW Groningen, The Netherlands, Department of Educational Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Education, VU University Amsterdam, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Lentis, Center for Mental Healthcare, 9725 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Department of Psychiatry & Rob Giel Research Center, University Medical Center Groningen, 9713 GZ Groningen, The Netherlands, Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Groningen, 9712 TS Groningen, The Netherlands.

Abstract

Alexithymia is a psychological construct that can be divided into a cognitive and affective dimension. The cognitive dimension is characterized by difficulties in identifying, verbalizing and analysing feelings. The affective dimension comprises reduced levels of emotional experience and imagination. Alexithymia is widely regarded to arise from an impairment of emotion regulation. This is the first functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study to critically evaluate this by investigating the neural correlates of emotion regulation as a function of alexithymia levels. The aim of the current study was to investigate the neural correlates underlying the two alexithymia dimensions during emotion perception and emotion regulation. Using fMRI, we scanned 51 healthy subjects while viewing, reappraising or suppressing negative emotional pictures. The results support the idea that cognitive alexithymia, but not affective alexithymia, is associated with lower activation in emotional attention and recognition networks during emotion perception. However, in contrast with several theories, no alexithymia-related differences were found during emotion regulation (neither reappraisal nor suppression). These findings suggest that alexithymia may result from an early emotion processing deficit rather than compromised frontal circuits subserving higher-order emotion regulation processes.

Keywords: alexithymia; amygdala; emotion processing; emotion regulation; neuroimaging.

Publication types

Multicenter Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Affect
Affective Symptoms / diagnosis
Affective Symptoms / physiopathology*
Affective Symptoms / psychology*
Amygdala / physiopathology
Cognition
Emotions*
Female
Humans
Interview, Psychological
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Nerve Net / physiopathology
Neuroimaging
Recognition, Psychology
Social Perception*
Surveys and Questionnaires