Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, Travis Research Institute, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2021 Sep 30;16(10):1071-1078. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsab056.
Deficient communication between the cerebral hemispheres is one of several prevailing neurobiological explanations for alexithymia and has been strongly supported by research on patients with commissurotomy. We examined self-reported symptoms of alexithymia in adults with agenesis of the corpus callosum (AgCC), a condition characterized by more subtle reductions in interhemispheric transfer than in commissurotomy. Sixteen adults with AgCC and full-scale intelligence quotient >80 were compared with 15 neurotypical controls group-matched for age and intelligence score. The AgCC group endorsed greater difficulty identifying and describing feelings and more vague physical symptoms than controls but similar levels of emotional experience and emotional coping. This finding of impaired emotional interpretation with intact emotional experience is consistent with findings in callosotomy patients, implicating the critical role of the corpus callosum in cognitive dimensions of emotion processing. Further study of alexithymia in AgCC using task-based measures may help clarify the nature of this relationship.
大脑半球之间的沟通不足是几种流行的关于述情障碍的神经生物学解释之一，并且得到了胼胝体切开术患者研究的有力支持。我们在胼胝体发育不全（AgCC）的成年人中检查了述情障碍的自我报告症状，这种情况的特点是与胼胝体切开术相比，半球间转移的减少更为微妙。将 16 名具有 AgCC 和全量表智商> 80 的成年人与 15 名神经典型对照组进行比较，这些对照组在年龄和智商得分上相匹配。AgCC 组比对照组更难识别和描述情绪，并且更模糊的身体症状，但情绪体验和情绪应对水平相似。这种发现表明，情绪解释受损而情绪体验完整，这与胼胝体切开术患者的发现一致，暗示了胼胝体在情绪处理的认知维度中的关键作用。使用基于任务的测量方法对 AgCC 中的述情障碍进行进一步研究可能有助于阐明这种关系的本质。
