Neural Substrates of Affective Face Recognition in Alexithymia: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
- Authors
- Lee, Byeong-Taek; Lee, Hwa-Young; Park, Sae-Ah; Lim, Jin-Young; Tae, Woo Suk; Lee, Min-Soo; Joe, Sook-Haeng; Jung, In-Kwa; Ham, Byung-Joo
- Issue Date
- 2011
- Publisher
- KARGER
- Keywords
- Alexithymia; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Facial stimuli
- Citation
- NEUROPSYCHOBIOLOGY, v.63, no.2, pp 119 - 124
- Pages
- 6
- Indexed
- SCI
SCIE
SCOPUS
- Journal Title
- NEUROPSYCHOBIOLOGY
- Volume
- 63
- Number
- 2
- Start Page
- 119
- End Page
- 124
- URI
- https://scholarworks.korea.ac.kr/kumedicine/handle/2020.sw.kumedicine/14180
- DOI
- 10.1159/000318086
- ISSN
- 0302-282X
1423-0224
- 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. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel
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Collections - 2. Clinical Science > Department of Psychiatry > 1. Journal Articles
- 5. Others > Others(Medicine) > 1. Journal Articles
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