TY  - JOUR
A1  - Pollatos, Olga
A1  - Gramann, Klaus
T1  - Attenuated modulation of brain activity accompanies emotion regulation deficits in alexithymia
JF  - Psychophysiology : journal of the Society for Psychophysiological Research
N2  - The personality trait alexithymia has been associated with deficits in emotion regulation; nevertheless, experimental investigations on this research question are sparse. We investigated reappraisal as one emotion regulation strategy in 44 healthy participants with high (HDA) versus low (LDA) degrees of alexithymia. High density EEG and spatiotemporal current density reconstruction were used to characterize the time course of emotion regulation and to identify brain regions involved. Main results were that reappraisal was accompanied by reduced arousal and significant amplitude reduction of P3 and slow wave in the LDA group only. In contrast to the LDA group, reappraisal was not associated with an increase of activation in fusiform gyrus and inferior temporal gyrus in the HDA group. We demonstrate profound deficits in emotion regulation, which might contribute to everyday problems of social functioning in alexithymia.
KW  - Alexithymia
KW  - Emotion regulation
KW  - Reappraisal
KW  - Evoked potentials
KW  - Current source density reconstruction
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01348.x
SN  - 0048-5772
VL  - 49
IS  - 5
SP  - 651
EP  - 658
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Herbert, Beate M.
A1  - Pollatos, Olga
T1  - The body in the mind On the relationship between interoception and embodiment
JF  - Topics in cognitive science
N2  - The processing, representation, and perception of bodily signals (interoception) plays an important role for human behavior. Theories of embodied cognition hold that higher cognitive processes operate on perceptual symbols and that concept use involves reactivations of the sensory-motor states that occur during experience with the world. Similarly, activation of interoceptive representations and meta-representations of bodily signals supporting interoceptive awareness are profoundly associated with emotional experience and cognitive functions. This article gives an overview over present findings and models on interoception and mechanisms of embodiment and highlights its relevance for disorders that are suggested to represent a translation deficit of bodily states into subjective feelings and self-awareness.
KW  - Interoception
KW  - Interoceptive awareness
KW  - Emotions
KW  - Time perception
KW  - Disturbances of embodiment
KW  - Alexithymia
KW  - Eating disorder
KW  - Self
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2012.01189.x
SN  - 1756-8757
VL  - 4
IS  - 4
SP  - 692
EP  - 704
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Pollatos, Olga
A1  - Werner, Natalie S.
A1  - Duschek, Stefan
A1  - Schandry, Rainer
A1  - Matthias, Ellen
A1  - Traut-Mattausch, Eva
A1  - Herbert, Beate M.
T1  - Differential effects of alexithymia subscales on autonomic reactivity and anxiety during social stress
JF  - Journal of psychosomatic research
N2  - Objectives: Alexithymia is characterized by a difficulty in identifying and describing one's emotions. Recent research has associated differential effects of the alexithymia facets to hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis markers during stress. This study aimed to analyze how the facets of alexithymia interact with autonomic reactivity as well as self- and observer-rated anxiety during a social stress task. Methods: With the use of a public-speaking paradigm, skin conductance levels (SCLs) and heart rate (HR) during the defined periods of baseline, preparation, stress, and recovery were assessed in 60 volunteers (42 females, mean age 22.8) categorized as having either high (HDA) or low (LDA) degrees of alexithymia. Results: We found smaller SCLs during preparation and speech in the HDA group. Regression analyses indicated that only the alexithymia facet "difficulty in describing feelings" (DDF) was associated with smaller electrodermal responses. In the HDA group, self- and observer-rated anxiety was higher in the HDA than in the LDA group, which was attributable to higher scores in the subscales "difficulty in identifying feelings" (DIF) and "externally oriented thinking" (EOT). Conclusions: Our data support and specify the decoupling hypothesis of alexithymia by showing that the facets of alexithymia are differentially related to autonomic reactivity as well as self- and observer-rated anxiety during social stress.
KW  - Alexithymia
KW  - Autonomic response
KW  - Social stress
KW  - Skin conductance
KW  - Anxiety
KW  - Social performance
KW  - Decoupling hypothesis
Y1  - 2011
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2010.12.003
SN  - 0022-3999
VL  - 70
IS  - 6
SP  - 525
EP  - 533
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Oxford
ER  -