Parallel Visual Information Processing Test. An experimental assessment of alexithymia

Alexithymia and Incidental Learning of Emotional Words

Alexithymia is thought to reflect a deficit in the cognitive capacity to process emotions. Prior research suggests that emotional valence has a memory enhancing effect in poor conceptual learning conditions. This study addressed the question of whether incidental learning of emotional words is a function of alexithymic tendencies. Incidental learning is unintentional learning that results from other activities. The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and measures of depression and verbal intelligence were administered to 30 nonclinical subjects (15 women, 15 men) whose mean age was 35.5 yr. ( SD = 8.6) along with a sequential word-word evaluation task. Partial correlations indicated that the TAS-20 subscale, Difficulties identifying feelings was negatively correlated with recall of positive distractor words but not with recall of neutral distractors or recall of positive or negative target words. Emotional valence appears to have less organizational power in the memory of individuals with difficulties in recognizing their feelings.

Hypothèse d’un dysfonctionnement émotionnel chez des adolescents présentant des comportements à risqué : une étude exploratoire

INTRODUCTION

Problem behaviour in adolescents today has become a real public health problem, because of the potentially heavy consequences on their mental integrity. Although a number of studies have pointed out the importance of emotional functioning in this phenomenon, its characteristics have not been clearly defined. In the field of pathological emotional functioning, the aim of the study was to explore the differences in emotion variables, verbal emotion expression ability and behaviour, and notably behaviour inhibition ability. We hypothesised that we would observe significant differences between adolescents who exhibit problem behaviour and those who do not, in the three fields of subjective emotional experience, emotion verbalization, and behavioural reaction.

METHOD

The sample for this investigation consisted in 40 high-school students--divided into two groups of 20 subjects: The first group: Problem Behaviour (PB), mean age: 15.2 +/- 1.2, sex ratio (M/F): 14/6, and the second group: No Problem Behaviour (NPB) mean age: l4.6 +/- 1.5, sex ratio (M/F): 13/6. Subjects were included into the PB group by completing a short questionnaire assessing problem behaviour (including verbal and behavioural violence, multiple exclusions of more than one day, substance use, and other risk-taking behaviour). To explore the emotional reactivity to stimuli, we provoked emotions using films excerpts with three situations: anger, joy and sadness. We assessed the subjective experience of emotion using the Differential Emotion Scale (DES, Izard, 1972), the verbal emotion expression by quantitative discourse analysis, and motor activity using the number of movements during stimuli exposure.

RESULTS

Statistical analysis (repeated ANOVAs) showed significant differences (p<0.0001) in subjective emotional intensity, motor activity (p<0.0001), and verbal emotion expression ability (p<0.0001) between the two groups. Adolescents with problem behaviour presented lower subjective emotional experience intensity, greater motor activity and reported less emotional words to describe their feelings.

DISCUSSION

Our results show an emotional dysfunction in adolescents with problem behaviour. These results are consistent with previous investigations, supporting the importance of emotional processing in the ability of people to cope with environment. This dysfunction may be linked to a pathology in the ability to "feel" the emotions. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.

Assessing alexithymia in French-speaking samples: psychometric properties of the Observer Alexithymia Scale-French translation

In the present study, we evaluated the psychometric properties of the Observer Alexithymia Scale-French translation (OAS-F), a 33-item, observer-rated alexithymia measure. The scale, accessible to lay and professional raters, taps everyday expressions of alexithymia. French university students (N = 159) were asked to rate a person they knew well or ask an acquaintance to rate them. Those being rated (N = 159) were parents, siblings, children, and friends. OAS-F total and subscale scores were comparable to those in the English normative samples. Moreover, OAS scores were reliable, and the scale's five-factor structure (distant, uninsightful, somatizing, humorless, and rigid) was confirmed. Importantly, too, OAS total scores correlated 0.31 with (self-report) 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) scores. The OAS-F appears to be a psychometrically sound observer-rated alexithymia measure.

Alexithymia correlates with the size of the right anterior cingulate

OBJECTIVE

The authors investigated a possible relationship between interindividual variability in anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG) morphology and alexithymia.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Magnetic resonance images were obtained in 100 healthy university graduates (51 female, 49 male; mean age 25.6 y). Surface area measurements of the ACG were performed on reformatted sagittal views in both hemispheres. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) were administered.

RESULTS

Right ACG surface area significantly correlated with TAS-20 total score in men (r = 0.37; p = 0.009) and in women (r = 0.30; p = 0.034). After controlling for three TCI subscales (harm avoidance, self-directedness, and self-transcendency), the correlation between TAS-20 total and right ACG became nonsignificant in women, but was only slightly reduced (r = 0.32; p = 0.032) in men. A linear regression model with right ACG as a dependent variable revealed brain volume, TCI-harm avoidance and TAS 20 total score as significant predictors in the total sample (explained proportion of total variation (EPTV) 37%). In men, beside brain volume, only TAS-20 total score showed a highly significant contribution (EPTV 41%), whereas in women only TCI-harm avoidance was a significant predictor (EPTV 36%).

CONCLUSIONS

The authors' findings indicate that there is a significant positive relation between the size of the right ACG and alexithymia as measured with the TAS in healthy subjects. This applies especially for men whereas in women ACG size is more associated with the subscale harm avoidance of the TCI. Our findings also suggest a partial lateralization of human emotion processing, especially negative emotion.

Decoding of facially expressed emotions in patients with psychosomatic gastrointestinal disorders

The hypothesis that individuals with psychosomatic conditions are lacking in empathy was tested by investigating decoding abilities of facially expressed emotions. Fourteen subjects with psychosomatic gastrointestinal disorders and 14 matched controls participated. Slides of one male and one female model's facial expressions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise, and a neutral face, were presented to subjects, with exposure durations of 1/60, 1/15, and 4 seconds. Subjects had to decide whether the face presented was neutral or expressed one of the basic emotions. There were no significant group differences in decoding neutral expressions, but significant differences resulted in decoding emotional expressions. This was mainly due to the significantly poorer performance of the psychosomatic group in decoding disgust. Subjects' responding was found to be reliable. The findings show that at least certain subgroups of psychosomatic patients tend to misinterpret another person's facial expressions that signal unpleasantness or interpersonal conflict.