Effect of impaired recognition and expression of emotions on frontocingulate cortices: an fMRI study of men with alexithymia.
OBJECTIVE
Although the brain areas involved in emotional response and in the recognition of others' emotions have been reported, the neural bases of individual differences in affective style remain to be elucidated. Alexithymia, i.e., impairment of the ability to identify and communicate one's emotional state, influences how emotions are regulated. Alexithymia has been hypothesized to involve anterior cingulate dysfunction. Therefore, the authors searched for differential cerebral regional activation in response to emotional stimuli in subjects with alexithymia.


METHODS
Two groups of eight men each were selected from 437 healthy subjects on the basis of high or low scores on the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the authors compared the two groups for their regional cerebral activation in response to the presentation of pictures with validated positive or negative arousal capabilities.


RESULTS
Men with alexithymia demonstrated less cerebral activation in the left mediofrontal-paracingulate cortex in response to highly negative stimuli and more activation in the anterior cingulate, mediofrontal cortex, and middle frontal gyrus in response to highly positive stimuli than men without alexithymia.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings provide direct evidence that alexithymia, a personality trait playing a role in affect regulation, is linked with differences in anterior cingulate and mediofrontal activity during emotional stimuli processing.
Berthoz
Sylvie
S
Equipe de Recherche ERM 0205, Imagerie Cérébrale en Psychiatrie, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot-Commissariat á l'Energie Atomique, Orsay, France.
Artiges
Eric
E
Van De Moortele
Pierre-François
PF
Poline
Jean-Baptiste
JB
Rouquette
Stéphanie
S
Consoli
Silla M
SM
Martinot
Jean-Luc
JL
D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D019260:Expressed Emotion / Q000502:physiology*; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*