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Golbabaei S, Borhani K. Nearsighted empathy: exploring the effect of empathy on distance perception, with eye movements as modulators. Sci Rep 2024; 14:25146. [PMID: 39448705 PMCID: PMC11502863 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-76731-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2024] [Accepted: 10/16/2024] [Indexed: 10/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Empathy, a cornerstone of social interaction, involves shared representation, eliciting vicarious emotions. However, its influence on shared perceptual representations, particularly in foundational domains such as distance perception, remains unexplored. In this study, we introduce a novel adaptation of the empathy for pain task to investigate empathy's influence on distance perception. We also examine how two personality traits, trait empathy and alexithymia, modulate this relationship. Utilizing eye-tracking technology, we examine how attention allocation to different facial and bodily features affects empathy's impact on distance perception. Our findings indicate that empathy biases individuals to perceive targets as closer, with trait empathy reinforcing this effect and alexithymia attenuating it. Furthermore, we demonstrate that heightened attention to eyes and face correlates with perceiving targets as closer, while attention to hand shows the opposite trend. These results underscore the broader influence of empathy beyond shared emotions, revealing its capacity to alter perceptual processes. By elucidating the interplay between personality traits and visual inputs in shaping these alterations, our study offers valuable insights for future research exploring the role of shared representation in empathy across various perceptual domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soroosh Golbabaei
- Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Velenjak, Tehran, Iran
| | - Khatereh Borhani
- Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Velenjak, Tehran, Iran.
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2
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Scarpazza C, Gramegna C, Costa C, Pezzetta R, Saetti MC, Preti AN, Difonzo T, Zago S, Bolognini N. The Emotion Authenticity Recognition (EAR) test: normative data of an innovative test using dynamic emotional stimuli to evaluate the ability to recognize the authenticity of emotions expressed by faces. Neurol Sci 2024:10.1007/s10072-024-07689-0. [PMID: 39023709 DOI: 10.1007/s10072-024-07689-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 07/08/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024]
Abstract
Despite research has massively focused on how emotions conveyed by faces are perceived, the perception of emotions' authenticity is a topic that has been surprisingly overlooked. Here, we present the Emotion Authenticity Recognition (EAR) test, a test specifically developed using dynamic stimuli depicting authentic and posed emotions to evaluate the ability of individuals to correctly identify an emotion (emotion recognition index, ER Index) and classify its authenticity (authenticity recognition index (EA Index). The EAR test has been validated on 522 healthy participants and normative values are provided. Correlations with demographic characteristics, empathy and general cognitive status have been obtained revealing that both indices are negatively correlated with age, and positively with education, cognitive status and different facets of empathy. The EAR test offers a new ecological test to assess the ability to detect emotion authenticity that allow to explore the eventual social cognitive deficit even in patients otherwise cognitively intact.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Scarpazza
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, Padova, PD, Italy.
- IRCCS S Camillo Hospital, Venezia, Italy.
| | - Chiara Gramegna
- Ph.D. Program in Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Cristiano Costa
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | | | - Maria Cristina Saetti
- Neurology Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
- Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Alice Naomi Preti
- Ph.D. Program in Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Teresa Difonzo
- Neurology Unit, Foundation IRCCS Ca' Granda Hospital Maggiore Policlinico, Milano, Italy
| | - Stefano Zago
- Neurology Unit, Foundation IRCCS Ca' Granda Hospital Maggiore Policlinico, Milano, Italy
| | - Nadia Bolognini
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Department of Neurorehabilitation Sciences, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milano, Italy
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3
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Fuchs M, Kersting A, Suslow T, Bodenschatz CM. Recognizing and Looking at Masked Emotional Faces in Alexithymia. Behav Sci (Basel) 2024; 14:343. [PMID: 38667139 PMCID: PMC11047507 DOI: 10.3390/bs14040343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2024] [Revised: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 04/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Alexithymia is a clinically relevant personality construct characterized by difficulties identifying and communicating one's emotions and externally oriented thinking. Alexithymia has been found to be related to poor emotion decoding and diminished attention to the eyes. The present eye tracking study investigated whether high levels of alexithymia are related to impairments in recognizing emotions in masked faces and reduced attentional preference for the eyes. An emotion recognition task with happy, fearful, disgusted, and neutral faces with face masks was administered to high-alexithymic and non-alexithymic individuals. Hit rates, latencies of correct responses, and fixation duration on eyes and face mask were analyzed as a function of group and sex. Alexithymia had no effects on accuracy and speed of emotion recognition. However, alexithymic men showed less attentional preference for the eyes relative to the mask than non-alexithymic men, which was due to their increased attention to face masks. No fixation duration differences were observed between alexithymic and non-alexithymic women. Our data indicate that high levels of alexithymia might not have adverse effects on the efficiency of emotion recognition from faces wearing masks. Future research on gaze behavior during facial emotion recognition in high alexithymia should consider sex as a moderating variable.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Thomas Suslow
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig Medical Center, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; (M.F.); (A.K.); (C.M.B.)
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4
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Yu L, Wang W, Li Z, Ren Y, Liu J, Jiao L, Xu Q. Alexithymia modulates emotion concept activation during facial expression processing. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae071. [PMID: 38466112 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 03/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties in emotional information processing. However, the underlying reasons for emotional processing deficits in alexithymia are not fully understood. The present study aimed to investigate the mechanism underlying emotional deficits in alexithymia. Using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, we recruited college students with high alexithymia (n = 24) or low alexithymia (n = 24) in this study. Participants judged the emotional consistency of facial expressions and contextual sentences while recording their event-related potentials. Behaviorally, the high alexithymia group showed longer response times versus the low alexithymia group in processing facial expressions. The event-related potential results showed that the high alexithymia group had more negative-going N400 amplitudes compared with the low alexithymia group in the incongruent condition. More negative N400 amplitudes are also associated with slower responses to facial expressions. Furthermore, machine learning analyses based on N400 amplitudes could distinguish the high alexithymia group from the low alexithymia group in the incongruent condition. Overall, these findings suggest worse facial emotion perception for the high alexithymia group, potentially due to difficulty in spontaneously activating emotion concepts. Our findings have important implications for the affective science and clinical intervention of alexithymia-related affective disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linwei Yu
- Department of Psychology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
| | - Weihan Wang
- Department of Psychology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
| | - Zhiwei Li
- Department of Psychology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
| | - Yi Ren
- Department of Psychology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
| | - Jiabin Liu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Lan Jiao
- Department of Psychology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
| | - Qiang Xu
- Department of Psychology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
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5
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Cooper H, Jennings BJ, Kumari V, Willard AK, Bennetts RJ. The association between childhood trauma and emotion recognition is reduced or eliminated when controlling for alexithymia and psychopathy traits. Sci Rep 2024; 14:3413. [PMID: 38341493 PMCID: PMC10858958 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-53421-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/31/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Emotion recognition shows large inter-individual variability, and is substantially affected by childhood trauma as well as modality, emotion portrayed, and intensity. While research suggests childhood trauma influences emotion recognition, it is unclear whether this effect is consistent when controlling for interrelated individual differences. Further, the universality of the effects has not been explored, most studies have not examined differing modalities or intensities. This study examined childhood trauma's association with accuracy, when controlling for alexithymia and psychopathy traits, and if this varied across modality, emotion portrayed, and intensity. An adult sample (N = 122) completed childhood trauma, alexithymia, and psychopathy questionnaires and three emotion tasks: faces, voices, audio-visual. When investigating childhood trauma alone, there was a significant association with poorer accuracy when exploring modality, emotion portrayed, and intensity. When controlling for alexithymia and psychopathy, childhood trauma remained significant when exploring emotion portrayed, however, it was no longer significant when exploring modality and intensity. In fact, alexithymia was significant when exploring intensity. The effect sizes overall were small. Our findings suggest the importance of controlling for interrelated individual differences. Future research should explore more sensitive measures of emotion recognition, such as intensity ratings and sensitivity to intensity, to see if these follow accuracy findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Holly Cooper
- Division of Psychology, College of Health, Medicine, and Life Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, UK.
| | - Ben J Jennings
- Division of Psychology, College of Health, Medicine, and Life Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, UK
| | - Veena Kumari
- Division of Psychology, College of Health, Medicine, and Life Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, UK
| | - Aiyana K Willard
- Division of Psychology, College of Health, Medicine, and Life Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, UK
| | - Rachel J Bennetts
- Division of Psychology, College of Health, Medicine, and Life Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, UK.
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Vaioli G, Bastoni I, Villa V, Mendolicchio L, Castelnuovo G, Mauro A, Scarpina F. "I cannot see your fear!" Altered recognition of fearful facial expressions in anorexia nervosa. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1280719. [PMID: 38125860 PMCID: PMC10732310 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1280719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 11/13/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Background The evidence about facial emotion recognition in anorexia nervosa as the role of alexithymic traits on this emotional ability is conflicting and heterogeneous. Objective We assessed the capability of recognizing facial expressions of two primary emotions, fear, and anger, in the context of anorexia nervosa. Methods Women affected by anorexia nervosa were compared with healthy weight women in a well-established implicit facial emotion recognition task. Both reaction time and level of accuracy were computed. Moreover, the individual levels of alexithymia were assessed through a standard self-report questionnaire. Results Participants with anorexia nervosa reported a significantly lower performance in terms of reaction time and accuracy when the emotion of fear-but not anger-was the target. Notably, such an alteration was linked to the levels of alexithymia reported in the self-report questionnaire. Conclusion In anorexia nervosa, difficulties in processing facial fearful (but not angry) expressions may be observed as linked to higher expressions of alexithymic traits. We suggested future research in which emotional processing will be investigated taking into account the role of the bodily dimensions of emotional awareness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Vaioli
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, U.O. di Neurologia e Neuroriabilitazione, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Piancavallo, Italy
| | - Ilaria Bastoni
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Laboratorio di Psicologia, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Piancavallo, Italy
| | - Valentina Villa
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Laboratorio di Psicologia, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Piancavallo, Italy
| | - Leonardo Mendolicchio
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, U.O. dei Disturbi del Comportamento Alimentare, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Piancavallo, Italy
| | - Gianluca Castelnuovo
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Laboratorio di Psicologia, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Piancavallo, Italy
- Psychology Department, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
| | - Alessandro Mauro
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, U.O. di Neurologia e Neuroriabilitazione, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Piancavallo, Italy
- “Rita Levi Montalcini” Department of Neurosciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Federica Scarpina
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, U.O. di Neurologia e Neuroriabilitazione, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Piancavallo, Italy
- “Rita Levi Montalcini” Department of Neurosciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
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Durtette A, Schmid F, Barrière S, Obert A, Lang J, Raucher-Chéné D, Gierski F, Kaladjian A, Henry A. Facial emotion recognition processes according to schizotypal personality traits: An eye-tracking study. Int J Psychophysiol 2023; 190:60-68. [PMID: 37385101 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2023.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2023] [Revised: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 06/11/2023] [Indexed: 07/01/2023]
Abstract
Facial emotion recognition has been shown to be impaired among patients with schizophrenia and, to a lesser extent, among individuals with high levels of schizotypal personality traits. However, aspects of gaze behavior during facial emotion recognition among the latter are still unclear. This study therefore investigated the relations between eye movements and facial emotion recognition among nonclinical individuals with schizotypal personality traits. A total of 83 nonclinical participants completed the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) and performed a facial emotion recognition task. Their gaze behavior was recorded by an eye-tracker. Self-report questionnaires measuring anxiety, depressive symptoms, and alexithymia were administered. At the behavioral level, correlation analyses showed that higher SPQ scores were associated with lower surprise recognition accuracy scores. Eye-tracking data revealed that higher SPQ scores were associated with shorter dwell time on relevant facial features during sadness recognition. Regression analyses revealed that the total SPQ score was the only significant predictor of eye movements during sadness recognition, and depressive symptoms were the only significant predictor of surprise recognition accuracy. Furthermore, dwell time predicted response times for sadness recognition in that shorter dwell time on relevant facial features was associated with longer response times. Schizotypal traits may be associated with decreased attentional engagement in relevant facial features during sadness recognition and impede participants' response times. Slower processing and altered gaze patterns during the processing of sad faces could lead to difficulties in everyday social situations in which information must be rapidly processed to enable the successful interpretation of other people's behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Apolline Durtette
- Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, Laboratoire Cognition, Santé et Société, B.P. 30, 57 Rue Pierre Taittinger, 51571 Reims Cedex, France.
| | - Franca Schmid
- Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, Laboratoire Cognition, Santé et Société, B.P. 30, 57 Rue Pierre Taittinger, 51571 Reims Cedex, France.
| | - Sarah Barrière
- Pôle Universitaire de Psychiatrie, EPSM et CHU de Reims, 8 Rue Roger Aubry, 51100 Reims, France.
| | - Alexandre Obert
- Institut national universitaire Champollion, Université de Toulouse, Laboratoire Sciences de la cognition, Technologie, Ergonomie, Place de Verdun, 81000 Albi, France.
| | - Julie Lang
- Pôle Universitaire de Psychiatrie, EPSM et CHU de Reims, 8 Rue Roger Aubry, 51100 Reims, France.
| | - Delphine Raucher-Chéné
- Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, Laboratoire Cognition, Santé et Société, B.P. 30, 57 Rue Pierre Taittinger, 51571 Reims Cedex, France; Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, 6875 Boulevard LaSalle, Montreal, Canada.
| | - Fabien Gierski
- Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, Laboratoire Cognition, Santé et Société, B.P. 30, 57 Rue Pierre Taittinger, 51571 Reims Cedex, France; Pôle Universitaire de Psychiatrie, EPSM et CHU de Reims, 8 Rue Roger Aubry, 51100 Reims, France.
| | - Arthur Kaladjian
- Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, Laboratoire Cognition, Santé et Société, B.P. 30, 57 Rue Pierre Taittinger, 51571 Reims Cedex, France; Pôle Universitaire de Psychiatrie, EPSM et CHU de Reims, 8 Rue Roger Aubry, 51100 Reims, France; Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, Faculté de Médicine, 51 rue Cognacq-Jay, 51100, Reims, France.
| | - Audrey Henry
- Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, Laboratoire Cognition, Santé et Société, B.P. 30, 57 Rue Pierre Taittinger, 51571 Reims Cedex, France; Pôle Universitaire de Psychiatrie, EPSM et CHU de Reims, 8 Rue Roger Aubry, 51100 Reims, France.
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8
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Cecchetto C, Dal Bò E, Aiello M, Fischmeister FPS, Gentili C, Osimo SA. Alexithymia modulates the attitudes towards odors but not the olfactory abilities or the affective reactions to odors. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0278496. [PMID: 37279254 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2022] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 06/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Although emotion and olfaction are closely linked, only a few studies have investigated olfactory processing in alexithymia, a condition characterized by altered emotional processing. These results do not allow comprehensive conclusions on whether individuals with alexithymia present lower olfactory abilities or only altered affective reactions and awareness of odors. Three pre-registered experiments were conducted to clarify this relation. We assessed olfactory functions, the affective qualities of odors, the awareness of odors, the attitudes towards them, and the ability to form olfactory images in the mind. Bayesian statistics were used to assess differences between low, medium and high alexithymia groups, and Linear Mixed Models (LMMs) were applied to investigate the modulation of the affective and cognitive components of alexithymia. We observed that individuals with a high level of alexithymia presented the same olfactory abilities, and did not show differences in their rating of odors compared to individuals with low alexithymia levels, while they reported lower levels of social and common odor awareness and a more indifferent attitude towards odors. Olfactory imagery was not affected by alexithymia level, and the affective and cognitive components of alexithymia, when considered separately, modulated olfactory perception differently. Learning more about olfactory perception in individuals with alexithymia leads to a better understanding of how alexithymia impacts the perception of hedonic stimuli coming from different sensory modalities. Our results imply that treatment goals for alexithymia should be the enhancement of the conscious perception of odors, supporting the use of mindfulness-based protocols in the alexithymia treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cinzia Cecchetto
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Elisa Dal Bò
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Marilena Aiello
- Department of Psychology "Renzo Canestrari", University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Florian Ph S Fischmeister
- Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
- BioTechMed-Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Claudio Gentili
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Sofia Adelaide Osimo
- Department of Psychology, MibTec, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
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9
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Straulino E, Scarpazza C, Sartori L. What is missing in the study of emotion expression? Front Psychol 2023; 14:1158136. [PMID: 37179857 PMCID: PMC10173880 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1158136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/06/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023] Open
Abstract
While approaching celebrations for the 150 years of "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals", scientists' conclusions on emotion expression are still debated. Emotion expression has been traditionally anchored to prototypical and mutually exclusive facial expressions (e.g., anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise). However, people express emotions in nuanced patterns and - crucially - not everything is in the face. In recent decades considerable work has critiqued this classical view, calling for a more fluid and flexible approach that considers how humans dynamically perform genuine expressions with their bodies in context. A growing body of evidence suggests that each emotional display is a complex, multi-component, motoric event. The human face is never static, but continuously acts and reacts to internal and environmental stimuli, with the coordinated action of muscles throughout the body. Moreover, two anatomically and functionally different neural pathways sub-serve voluntary and involuntary expressions. An interesting implication is that we have distinct and independent pathways for genuine and posed facial expressions, and different combinations may occur across the vertical facial axis. Investigating the time course of these facial blends, which can be controlled consciously only in part, is recently providing a useful operational test for comparing the different predictions of various models on the lateralization of emotions. This concise review will identify shortcomings and new challenges regarding the study of emotion expressions at face, body, and contextual levels, eventually resulting in a theoretical and methodological shift in the study of emotions. We contend that the most feasible solution to address the complex world of emotion expression is defining a completely new and more complete approach to emotional investigation. This approach can potentially lead us to the roots of emotional display, and to the individual mechanisms underlying their expression (i.e., individual emotional signatures).
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Straulino
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- *Correspondence: Elisa Straulino,
| | - Cristina Scarpazza
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- IRCCS San Camillo Hospital, Venice, Italy
| | - Luisa Sartori
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- Luisa Sartori,
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10
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Scarpina F, Ghiggia A, Vaioli G, Varallo G, Capodaglio P, Arreghini M, Castelnuovo G, Mauro A, Castelli L. Altered recognition of fearful and angry facial expressions in women with fibromyalgia syndrome: an experimental case-control study. Sci Rep 2022; 12:21498. [PMID: 36513716 PMCID: PMC9747799 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-25824-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Accepted: 12/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Evidence relative to facial emotion recognition and the role played by alexithymia in fibromyalgia syndrome is rare and heterogeneous. In this work, we investigated this ability in fibromyalgia investigating the implicit behaviour in the facial emotion recognition task, focusing on fear and anger. Twenty women with fibromyalgia and twenty healthy women as controls performed a facial emotion recognition of fearful and angry expressions. Their implicit behaviour was scored in accordance with the redundant target effect. The level of alexithymic traits through a standard psychological questionnaire and its effect on behavioral performance were also assessed. Participants affected by fibromyalgia reported a lower level of accuracy in recognizing fearful and angry expressions, in comparison with the controls. Crucially, such a difference was not explained by the different levels of alexithymic traits between groups. Our results agreed with some previous evidence suggesting an altered recognition of others' emotional facial expressions in fibromyalgia syndrome. Considering the role of emotion recognition on social cognition and psychological well-being in fibromyalgia, we underlined the crucial role of emotional difficulties in the onset and maintenance of the symptoms life-span.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica Scarpina
- "Rita Levi Montalcini" Department of Neurosciences, University of Turin, Via Cherasco, 15, Turin, Italy.
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, U.O. di Neurologia e Neuroriabilitazione, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Piancavallo (VCO), Italy.
| | - Ada Ghiggia
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via Edoardo Weiss 21, Trieste, Italy.
| | - Giulia Vaioli
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, U.O. di Neurologia e Neuroriabilitazione, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Piancavallo (VCO), Italy
| | - Giorgia Varallo
- Dipartimento Di Psicologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Paolo Capodaglio
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, U.O. di Riabilitazione Osteoarticolare, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Piancavallo (VCO), Italy
- Department of Surgical Sciences, Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Marco Arreghini
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, U.O. di Riabilitazione Osteoarticolare, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Piancavallo (VCO), Italy
| | - Gianluca Castelnuovo
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Laboratorio di Psicologia, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Piancavallo (VCO), Italy
- Dipartimento Di Psicologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
| | - Alessandro Mauro
- "Rita Levi Montalcini" Department of Neurosciences, University of Turin, Via Cherasco, 15, Turin, Italy
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, U.O. di Neurologia e Neuroriabilitazione, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Piancavallo (VCO), Italy
| | - Lorys Castelli
- Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
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11
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Garofalo S, Giovagnoli S, Orsoni M, Starita F, Benassi M. Interaction effect: Are you doing the right thing? PLoS One 2022; 17:e0271668. [PMID: 35857797 PMCID: PMC9299307 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271668] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2022] [Accepted: 07/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
How to correctly interpret interaction effects has been largely discussed in scientific literature. Nevertheless, misinterpretations are still frequently observed, and neuroscience is not exempt from this trend. We reviewed 645 papers published from 2019 to 2020 and found that, in the 93.2% of studies reporting a statistically significant interaction effect (N = 221), post-hoc pairwise comparisons were the designated method adopted to interpret its results. Given the widespread use of this approach, we aim to: (1) highlight its limitations and how it can lead to misinterpretations of the interaction effect; (2) discuss more effective and powerful ways to correctly interpret interaction effects, including both explorative and model selection procedures. The paper provides practical examples and freely accessible online materials to reproduce all analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Garofalo
- Department of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari”, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
- * E-mail:
| | - Sara Giovagnoli
- Department of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari”, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Matteo Orsoni
- Department of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari”, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Francesca Starita
- Department of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari”, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Mariagrazia Benassi
- Department of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari”, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
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12
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Nordmann MA, Schäfer R, Müller T, Franz M. Alexithymia and Facial Mimicry in Response to Infant and Adult Affect-Expressive Faces. Front Psychol 2021; 12:635648. [PMID: 34421703 PMCID: PMC8371753 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.635648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 06/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Facial mimicry is the automatic tendency to imitate facial expressions of emotions. Alexithymia is associated with a reduced facial mimicry ability to affect expressions of adults. There is evidence that the baby schema may influence this process. In this study it was tested experimentally whether facial mimicry of the alexithymic group (AG) is different from the control group (CG) in response to dynamic facial affect expressions of children and adults. A multi-method approach (20-point Toronto Alexithymia Scale and Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia) was used for assessing levels of alexithymia. From 3503 initial data sets, two groups of 38 high and low alexithymic individuals without relevant mental or physical diseases were matched regarding age, gender, and education. Facial mimicry was induced by presentation of naturalistic affect-expressive video sequences (fear, sadness, disgust, anger, and joy) taken from validated sets of faces from adults (Averaged Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces) and children (Picture-Set of Young Children's Affective Facial Expressions). The videos started with a neutral face and reached maximum affect expression within 2 s. The responses of the groups were measured by facial electromyographic activity (fEMG) of corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major muscles. Differences in fEMG response (4000 ms) were tested in a variance analytical model. There was one significant main effect for the factor emotion and four interaction effects for the factors group × age, muscle × age, muscle × emotion, and for the triple interaction muscle × age × emotion. The participants of AG showed a decreased fEMG activity in response to the presented faces of adults compared to the CG but not for the faces of children. The affect-expressive faces of children induced enhanced zygomatic and reduced corrugator muscle activity in both groups. Despite existing deficits in the facial mimicry of alexithymic persons, affect-expressive faces of children seem to trigger a stronger positive emotional involvement even in the AG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc A. Nordmann
- Medical Faculty, Clinical Institute for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of the Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany
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13
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Scarpazza C, Zangrossi A, Huang YC, Sartori G, Massaro S. Disentangling interoceptive abilities in alexithymia. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 86:844-857. [PMID: 34097132 PMCID: PMC8182733 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01538-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2020] [Accepted: 05/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
In recent years, research on interoceptive abilities (i.e., sensibility, accuracy, and awareness) and their associations with emotional experience has flourished. Yet interoceptive abilities in alexithymia—a personality trait characterized by a difficulty in the cognitive interpretation of emotional arousal, which impacts emotional experience—remain under-investigated, thereby limiting a full understanding of subjective emotional experience processing. Research has proposed two contrasting explanations thus far: in one model, the dimensions of interoceptive sensibility and accuracy in alexithymia would increase; in the other model, they would decrease. Surprisingly, the contribution of interoceptive awareness has been minimally researched. In this study (N = 182), the relationship between participants’ level of alexithymia and the three interoceptive dimensions was tested. Our results show that the higher the level of alexithymia is, the higher interoceptive accuracy and sensibility (R2 = 0.29 and R2 = 0.14); conversely, the higher the level of alexithymia is, the lower interoceptive awareness (R2 = 0.36). Moreover, an ROC analysis reveals that interoceptive awareness is the most accurate predictor of alexithymia, yielding over 92% accuracy. Collectively, these results support a coherent understanding of interoceptive abilities in alexithymia, whereby the dissociation of interoceptive accuracy and awareness may explain the underlying psycho-physiological mechanisms of alexithymia. A possible neurocognitive mechanism is discussed which suggests insurgence of psychosomatic disorders in alexithymia and related psychotherapeutic approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Scarpazza
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Via Venezia 8, 35131, Padua, PD, Italy.
| | - Andrea Zangrossi
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Padua, Via Giustiniani, 5, 35128, Padua, Italy.,Padova Neuroscience Center (PCN), University of Padua, Via Giustiniani, 5, 35128, Padua, Italy
| | - Yu-Chun Huang
- The Organizational Neuroscience Laboratory, 27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AX, UK.,Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, University Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK
| | - Giuseppe Sartori
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Via Venezia 8, 35131, Padua, PD, Italy
| | - Sebastiano Massaro
- The Organizational Neuroscience Laboratory, 27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AX, UK.,Surrey Business School, University of Surrey, Guildford, Rik Medlik Building (MS), Guildford, GU2 7XH, UK
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14
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Alexithymia explains atypical spatiotemporal dynamics of eye gaze in autism. Cognition 2021; 212:104710. [PMID: 33862441 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2020] [Revised: 03/24/2021] [Accepted: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Recognition of emotional facial expressions is considered to be atypical in autism. This difficulty is thought to be due to the way that facial expressions are visually explored. Evidence for atypical visual exploration of emotional faces in autism is, however, equivocal. We propose that, where observed, atypical visual exploration of emotional facial expressions is due to alexithymia, a distinct but frequently co-occurring condition. In this eye-tracking study we tested the alexithymia hypothesis using a number of recent methodological advances to study eye gaze during several emotion processing tasks (emotion recognition, intensity judgements, free gaze), in 25 adults with, and 45 without, autism. A multilevel polynomial modelling strategy was used to describe the spatiotemporal dynamics of eye gaze to emotional facial expressions. Converging evidence from traditional and novel analysis methods revealed that atypical gaze to the eyes is best predicted by alexithymia in both autistic and non-autistic individuals. Information theoretic analyses also revealed differential effects of task on gaze patterns as a function of alexithymia, but not autism. These findings highlight factors underlying atypical emotion processing in autistic individuals, with wide-ranging implications for emotion research.
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15
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Fear-related signals are prioritised in visual, somatosensory and spatial systems. Neuropsychologia 2020; 150:107698. [PMID: 33253690 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107698] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2020] [Accepted: 11/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The human brain has evolved a multifaceted fear system, allowing threat detection to enable rapid adaptive responses crucial for survival. Although many cortical and subcortical brain areas are believed to be involved in the survival circuits detecting and responding to threat, the amygdala has reportedly a crucial role in the fear system. Here, we review evidence demonstrating that fearful faces, a specific category of salient stimuli indicating the presence of threat in the surrounding, are preferentially processed in the fear system and in the connected sensory cortices, even when they are presented outside of awareness or are irrelevant to the task. In the visual domain, we discuss evidence showing in hemianopic patients that fearful faces, via a subcortical colliculo-pulvinar-amygdala pathway, have a privileged visual processing even in the absence of awareness and facilitate responses towards visual stimuli in the intact visual field. Moreover, evidence showing that somatosensory cortices prioritise fearful-related signals, to the extent that tactile processing is enhanced in the presence of fearful faces, will be also reported. Finally, we will review evidence revealing that fearful faces have a pivotal role in modulating responses in peripersonal space, in line with the defensive functional definition of PPS.
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Albantakis L, Brandi ML, Zillekens IC, Henco L, Weindel L, Thaler H, Schliephake L, Timmermans B, Schilbach L. Alexithymic and autistic traits: Relevance for comorbid depression and social phobia in adults with and without autism spectrum disorder. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2020; 24:2046-2056. [PMID: 32662285 PMCID: PMC7543015 DOI: 10.1177/1362361320936024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
LAY ABSTRACT Adults with autism often develop mental health problems such as depression and social phobia. The reasons for this are still unclear. Many studies found that alexithymia plays an important role in mental health problems like depression. People with alexithymia have difficulties identifying and describing their emotions. Almost every second person with autism has alexithymia. Therefore, we explored in this study whether alexithymia is linked to worse mental health in autistic people. We looked at two common diagnoses, depression and social phobia. We found that alexithymia increased symptoms of depression, while autistic traits increased symptoms of social phobia. Our results suggest that alexithymia and autistic traits can increase the risk of mental health problems. An early assessment could help prevent mental health problems and improve quality of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Albantakis
- Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | | | - Imme Christina Zillekens
- Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | - Lara Henco
- Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
- Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Muenich, Germany
| | | | - Hanna Thaler
- Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | | | | | - Leonhard Schilbach
- Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
- LVR-Klinikum Duesseldorf/Kliniken der Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf, Germany
- Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, Germany
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17
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Ścigała DK, Zdankiewicz-Ścigała E, Bedyńska S, Kokoszka A. Psychometric Properties and Configural Invariance of the Polish - Language Version of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale in Non-clinical and Alcohol Addict Persons. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1241. [PMID: 32625145 PMCID: PMC7311651 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2020] [Accepted: 05/12/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
AIM The development and assessment of the psychometric properties of the Polish-language version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (Bagby et al., 1994a, b) is described in this article. The aim of this study was to translate the TAS - 20 into Polish and establish the psychometric properties of this instrument evaluating alexithymia. MATERIALS AND METHODS Data were collected via self-report measures from a total sample of 676 participants: a total of 180 participants (115 males and 65 females) diagnosed with alcohol dependence, and 496 control group (347 males and 149 females). RESULTS Confirmatory factor analyses found the factor structure of the original English-language TAS 20 for the three subscales translated into Polish: Difficulty in Identifying Feeling (DIF); Difficulty in Describing Feeling (DDF); Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT). All three subscales showed good internal consistency in non-clinical group and two subscales, DIF and DDF in alcohol addict group. Several EOT items loaded poorly on their intended factor. CONCLUSION The results from the present study indicate that the Polish version of the TAS - 20 is a reliable and valid measure of alexithymia with good levels of internal consistency, homogeneity, and construct validity. We conclude that the TAS-20 has, for the most part, adequate psychometric properties, though interpretation should focus only on the total scale score and DIF and DDF subscales, especially in clinical groups.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Sylwia Bedyńska
- Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Andrzej Kokoszka
- II Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
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18
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Rosenberg N, Ihme K, Lichev V, Sacher J, Rufer M, Grabe HJ, Kugel H, Pampel A, Lepsien J, Kersting A, Villringer A, Suslow T. Alexithymia and automatic processing of facial emotions: behavioral and neural findings. BMC Neurosci 2020; 21:23. [PMID: 32471365 PMCID: PMC7257227 DOI: 10.1186/s12868-020-00572-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2018] [Accepted: 05/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Alexithymia is a personality trait characterized by difficulties identifying and describing feelings, an externally oriented style of thinking, and a reduced inclination to imagination. Previous research has shown deficits in the recognition of emotional facial expressions in alexithymia and reductions of brain responsivity to emotional stimuli. Using an affective priming paradigm, we investigated automatic perception of facial emotions as a function of alexithymia at the behavioral and neural level. In addition to self-report scales, we applied an interview to assess alexithymic tendencies. RESULTS During 3 T fMRI scanning, 49 healthy individuals judged valence of neutral faces preceded by briefly shown happy, angry, fearful, and neutral facial expressions. Alexithymia was assessed using the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ) and the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia (TSIA). As expected, only negative correlations were found between alexithymic features and affective priming. The global level of self-reported alexithymia (as assessed by the TAS-20 and the BVAQ) was found to be related to less affective priming owing to angry faces. At the facet level, difficulties identifying feelings, difficulties analyzing feelings, and impoverished fantasy (as measured by the BVAQ) were correlated with reduced affective priming due to angry faces. Difficulties identifying feelings (BVAQ) correlated also with reduced affective priming due to fearful faces and reduced imagination (TSIA) was related to decreased affective priming due to happy faces. There was only one significant correlation between alexithymia dimensions and automatic brain response to masked facial emotions: TAS-20 alexithymia correlated with heightened brain response to masked happy faces in superior and medial frontal areas. CONCLUSIONS Our behavioral results provide evidence that alexithymic features are related in particular to less sensitivity for covert facial expressions of anger. The perceptual alterations could reflect impaired automatic recognition or integration of social anger signals into judgemental processes and might contribute to the problems in interpersonal relationships associated with alexithymia. Our findings suggest that self-report measures of alexithymia may have an advantage over interview-based tests as research tools in the field of emotion perception at least in samples of healthy individuals characterized by rather low levels of alexithymia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole Rosenberg
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstrasse 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Klas Ihme
- Institute of Transportation Systems, German Aerospace Center, Lilienthalplatz 7, 38108 Brunswick, Germany
| | - Vladimir Lichev
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstrasse 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Julia Sacher
- Department of Neurology, Max-Planck-Institute of Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Clinic of Cognitive Neurology, University of Leipzig, Liebigstrasse 18, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Michael Rufer
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Militärstrasse 8, 8021 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Hans Jörgen Grabe
- Department of Psychiatry, University Medicine of Greifswald, Ellernholzstraße 1-2, 17475 Greifswald, Germany
| | - Harald Kugel
- Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - André Pampel
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Unit, Max-Planck-Institute of Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jöran Lepsien
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Unit, Max-Planck-Institute of Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Anette Kersting
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstrasse 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Arno Villringer
- Department of Neurology, Max-Planck-Institute of Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Clinic of Cognitive Neurology, University of Leipzig, Liebigstrasse 18, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Thomas Suslow
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstrasse 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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19
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Starita F, Pietrelli M, Bertini C, di Pellegrino G. Aberrant reward prediction error during Pavlovian appetitive learning in alexithymia. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2020; 14:1119-1129. [PMID: 31820808 PMCID: PMC6970149 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsz089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2018] [Revised: 09/02/2019] [Accepted: 09/30/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Extensive literature shows that alexithymia, a subclinical trait defined by difficulties in identifying and describing feelings, is characterized by multifaceted impairments in processing emotional stimuli. Nevertheless, its underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we hypothesize that alexithymia may be characterized by an alteration in learning the emotional value of encountered stimuli and test this by assessing differences between individuals with low (LA) and high (HA) levels of alexithymia in the computation of reward prediction errors (RPEs) during Pavlovian appetitive conditioning. As a marker of RPE, the amplitude of the feedback-related negativity (FRN) event-related potential was assessed while participants were presented with two conditioned stimuli (CS) associated with expected or unexpected feedback, indicating delivery of reward or no-reward. No-reward (vs reward) feedback elicited the FRN both in LA and HA. However, unexpected (vs expected) feedback enhanced the FRN in LA but not in HA, indicating impaired computation of RPE in HA. Thus, although HA show preserved sensitivity to rewards, they cannot use this response to update the value of CS that predict them. This impairment may hinder the construction of internal representations of emotional stimuli, leaving individuals with alexithymia unable to effectively recognize, respond and regulate their response to emotional stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Giuseppe di Pellegrino
- Department of Psychology, Center for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna (BO), Italy
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20
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Ridout N, Smith J, Hawkins H. The influence of alexithymia on memory for emotional faces and realistic social interactions. Cogn Emot 2020; 35:540-558. [PMID: 32268841 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2020.1747991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
High levels of alexithymia are typically associated with impaired memory for emotional, but not neutral words. We conducted two experimental studies to establish if this effect generalises to non-verbal socially relevant stimuli. Thirty-nine female undergraduates (Study 1) viewed faces with different expressions (neutral, angry, happy or sad) and 38 female students (Study 2) viewed videos of realistic social interactions (featuring anger, happiness, sadness or neutral affect). Participants were asked to identify the emotion portrayed and were subsequently given an intentional recognition memory test for the stimuli. They also completed self-report measures of alexithymia and mood (depression & anxiety). In Study 1, memory for emotional (especially angry), but not neutral faces was negatively related to the "difficulty describing feelings" facet of alexithymia. In Study 2, memory for emotional (particularly those featuring anger), but not neutral videos was negatively related to the "difficulty identifying feelings" and "externally oriented thinking" facets of alexithymia. In both studies, these memory deficits were independent of the effects of age and mood. Furthermore, the deficits appear to be most evident in the conscious recollection of the emotional stimuli. Our findings confirm that the memory deficit for emotional words in alexithymia generalises to important non-verbal socially relevant stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan Ridout
- Department of Psychology, School of Life & Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK
| | - Jade Smith
- Department of Psychology, School of Life & Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK
| | - Holly Hawkins
- Department of Psychology, School of Life & Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK
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21
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Zucchelli MM, Starita F, Bertini C, Giusberti F, Ciaramelli E. Intentionality attribution and emotion: The Knobe Effect in alexithymia. Cognition 2019; 191:103978. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.05.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2018] [Revised: 05/12/2019] [Accepted: 05/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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22
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Starita F, di Pellegrino G. Alexithymia and the Reduced Ability to Represent the Value of Aversively Motivated Actions. Front Psychol 2018; 9:2587. [PMID: 30631295 PMCID: PMC6315179 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2018] [Accepted: 12/03/2018] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Alexithymia is a subclinical trait defined by difficulties in identifying and describing feelings and a cognitive style avoidant of introspection. Extensive literature shows that alexithymia is characterized by multifaceted impairments in processing emotional stimuli. Nevertheless, the mechanisms that may account for such impairments remain elusive. Here, we hypothesize that alexithymia may be understood as impairment in learning the emotional value of one’s own actions and test this comparing performance of participants with high (HA) and low (LA) levels of alexithymia on a probabilistic selection task. Results show that, compared to LA, HA need more time to learn the value of individual stimuli and associated actions as difference in reinforcement rate between stimuli decreases. In addition, HA appear less able to generalize the value of previously learned actions that lead to a negative outcome, to make adaptive choices in a new context, requiring more time to avoid the most negative stimulus between two negative stimuli. Together, the results indicate that individuals with alexithymia show impaired learning of the value of aversively motivated actions. We argue that this impairment may hinder the construction of internal representations of emotional stimuli and actions and represent a mechanism that may account for the difficulties of alexithymia in processing emotional stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Starita
- Center for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Giuseppe di Pellegrino
- Center for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
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