title: Neural substrates of affective face recognition in alexithymia: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Alexithymia is a condition characterized by deficits in cognitive processing and the regulation of emotions. Several theories have been proposed for the underlying neurobiology, but the etiology of alexithymia remains unclear.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated brain activation measured on the scale of alexithymia in 38 individuals who were presented with neutral, sad, or angry affective facial stimuli.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found significant inverse correlations between the degree of alexithymia represented by the Korean version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20K) and the intensity of the neural response to angry facial stimuli over neutral facial stimuli in the right caudate. This result was mainly due to the activations in factor 2 (difficulty describing feelings) in TAS-20K scale.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that functional impairments in the caudate of the fronto-striatal circuitry may play important roles in the pathophysiology of alexithymia.
authors.affiliation: Office of Admissions, Seoul National University, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Byeong-Taek
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hwa-Young
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sae-Ah
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Jin-Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Woo Suk
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Tae
authors.forename: Min-Soo
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sook-Haeng
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Joe
authors.forename: In-Kwa
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Byung-Joo
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Ham
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*