This title appears in the Scientific Report :
2012
Please use the identifier:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2011.06.012 in citations.
Alexithymia in healthy young men: A voxel-based morphometric study
Alexithymia in healthy young men: A voxel-based morphometric study
Alexithymia is a personality construct predominately associated with an impaired ability to identify and communicate emotions. Functional imaging studies showed that an altered function of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) may be relevant in alexithymia. In this study we investigated if the altere...
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Personal Name(s): | Heinzel, A. |
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Minnerop, M. / Schafer, R. / Muller, H.W. / Franz, M. / Hautzel, H. | |
Contributing Institute: |
Strukturelle und funktionelle Organisation des Gehirns; INM-1 |
Published in: | Journal of affective disorders, 136 (2012) S. 1252 - 1256 |
Imprint: |
Amsterdam [u.a.]
Elsevier Science
2012
|
Physical Description: |
1252 - 1256 |
DOI: |
10.1016/j.jad.2011.06.012 |
PubMed ID: |
21723620 |
Document Type: |
Journal Article |
Research Program: |
Connectivity and Activity Funktion und Dysfunktion des Nervensystems |
Series Title: |
Journal of Affective Disorders
136 |
Subject (ZB): | |
Publikationsportal JuSER |
Alexithymia is a personality construct predominately associated with an impaired ability to identify and communicate emotions. Functional imaging studies showed that an altered function of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) may be relevant in alexithymia. In this study we investigated if the altered functional anatomy is related to structural changes (A) in the whole brain and (B) specifically in the ACC by applying a region-of-interest analysis.33 high- and 31 low-alexithymic right-handed young male subjects (selected by the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, TAS-20) were investigated using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) on high-resolution 3D magnetic resonance images. The group differences were analyzed by applying voxel-wise comparisons using two-sample t-tests. Moreover regression analyses with regard to the individual TAS-20 sum scores were calculated.Neither the subtraction analyses nor the correlation analyses revealed significant differences between high- and low-alexithymic subjects. Thus, according to our results, the null hypothesis of no structural difference between the groups could not be rejected.The findings cannot be generalized to female subjects.Our results did not reveal morphological differences between high- and low-alexithymic subjects. The functional differences known from imaging studies could not be attributed to underlying anatomical changes. Thus, the personality trait of alexithymia might be associated with fewer morphological abnormalities than previously assumed. |