Attentional Dynamics During Emotional Face Processing Differentiate Alexithymia From Mood and Affective Symptoms

Alexithymia refers to difficulties in experiencing and expressing emotions, differentiating them from bodily sensations, restricted imagination, and externally oriented thinking. Mood and affective symptoms are often confounded with alexithymia due to the typical assessment through self-report. Performance measures may allow a more objective assessment of alexithymia. The goal of this study was to identify unique or shared performance-based features during emotional face processing.

A total of 171 students provided data on alexithymia (BVAQ) and mood/affective symptoms (DASS-21), along with performance and eye movements during an emotional face processing task. LASSO regressions isolated features associated with alexithymia or mood/affective symptoms.

Cognitive alexithymia in the BVAQ was linked to delayed attentional disengagement from facial eye regions, increased face fixations/visual search, and accurate but slower responses. Mood/affective symptoms showed a pervasive link to faster but less accurate responses, accompanied by decreased facial fixations and visual search.

Performance-based attentional dynamics during emotional face processing clearly distinguished (cognitive) alexithymia from mood and may aid in a multi-method assessment of alexithymia. Metrics such as these may better reflect behavioral dispositions and can be used as possible transdiagnostic markers of psychopathology.