title: Differential modulation of valence and arousal in high-alexithymic and low-alexithymic individuals.
abstract: High-alexithymic individuals are characterized by an impaired ability to identify and communicate emotions whereas low-alexithymic individuals have a wide-ranging ability to deal with emotions. This study examined the hypothesis that valence and arousal modifications of emotional stimuli differentially modulate cortical regions in high-alexithymic and low-alexithymic individuals. To this end, 28 high-alexithymic and 25 low-alexithymic individuals were investigated with event-related fMRI using visual emotional stimuli. We found differential neural activations in the dorsal anterior cingulate, the insula and the amygdala. We suggest that these differences may account for the impaired ability of high-alexithymic individuals to appropriately handle emotional stimuli.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Düsseldorf at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany. a.heinzel@fz-juelich.de
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heinzel
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schäfer
authors.forename: Hans-Wilhelm
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Andre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schieffer
authors.forename: Ariane
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ingenhag
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Northoff
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Franz
authors.forename: Hubertus
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hautzel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult