Borhani Khatereh, Làdavas Elisabetta, Fotopoulou Aikaterini, Haggard Patrick
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK; Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy; CSRNC, Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Viale Europa 980, 47521 Cesena, Italy; Institute of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy; CSRNC, Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Viale Europa 980, 47521 Cesena, Italy.
Biol Psychol. 2017 Sep;128:132-140. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.07.012. Epub 2017 Jul 20.
Alexithymia is a personality trait involving deficits in emotional processing. The personality construct has been extensively validated, but the underlying neural and physiological systems remain controversial. One theory suggests that low-level somatosensory mechanisms act as somatic markers of emotion, underpinning cognitive and affective impairments in alexithymia. In two separate samples (total N=100), we used an established Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) battery to probe multiple neurophysiological submodalities of somatosensation, and investigated their associations with the widely-used Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Experiment one found reduced sensitivity to warmth in people with higher alexithymia scores, compared to individuals with lower scores, without deficits in other somatosensory submodalities. Experiment two replicated this result in a new group of participants using a full-sample correlation between threshold for warm detection and TAS-20 scores. We discuss the relations between low-level thermoceptive function and cognitive processing of emotion.
述情障碍是一种涉及情绪加工缺陷的人格特质。这种人格结构已得到广泛验证，但其潜在的神经和生理系统仍存在争议。一种理论认为，低水平的躯体感觉机制充当情绪的躯体标记，是述情障碍中认知和情感障碍的基础。在两个独立样本（总样本量N = 100）中，我们使用一套既定的定量感觉测试（QST）组合来探究躯体感觉的多种神经生理亚模态，并研究它们与广泛使用的多伦多述情障碍量表（TAS - 20）之间的关联。实验一发现，与低分者相比，述情障碍得分较高者对温暖的敏感度降低，而在其他躯体感觉亚模态方面没有缺陷。实验二在一组新的参与者中重复了这一结果，采用了温暖检测阈值与TAS - 20得分之间的全样本相关性分析。我们讨论了低水平温度感受功能与情绪认知加工之间的关系。
