Alexithymia and levels of processing: Evidence for an overall deficit in remembering emotion words

Alexithymia is a multifaceted personality construct that is thought to reflect a deficit in the cognitive processing of emotions. The effects of low vs. high Alexithymia, neutral vs. positive vs. negative words processed, and perceptual vs. semantic processing on memory were investigated in a group of 82 students using the levels of processing paradigm and the Remember/Know procedure. No differences were observed between low and high Alexithymia students when neutral material was considered. However, for both levels of processing, high Alexithymia students recalled fewer emotion words (both positive and negative) when "Remember" responses were considered. "Know" responses were comparable across Alexithymia groups. The deficit in the ability to consciously access emotional material (the "Remember" responses) may help explain the impaired regulation of intense emotional states by high Alexithymia individuals. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[1]  P. Salovey,et al.  Emotional development and emotional intelligence: Educational implications. , 1997 .

[2]  T. Suslow,et al.  Impairments of emotion situation priming in alexithymia , 2002 .

[3]  G. Keppel,et al.  Data analysis for research designs: Analysis of variance and multiple regression/correlation approaches. , 1990 .

[4]  R. Bagby,et al.  The 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale: IV. Reliability and factorial validity in different languages and cultures , 2003 .

[5]  F. Craik,et al.  Depth of processing and the retention of words , 1975 .

[6]  J. Williams.  Cognitive Psychology and Emotional Disorders , 1991 .

[7]  Henry Krystal,et al.  Integration and Self Healing: Affect, Trauma, Alexithymia , 1988 .

[8]  G J Taylor,et al.  Alexithymia and the recognition of facial expressions of emotion. , 1993, Psychotherapy and psychosomatics.

[9]  J. Guelfi,et al.  Factorial structure of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale: confirmatory factorial analyses in nonclinical and clinical samples. , 2001, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[10]  M. Dawson,et al.  Affective Reactions in the Blink of an Eye: Individual Differences in Subjective Experience and Physiological Responses to Emotional Stimuli , 1998 .

[11]  Graeme J. Taylor,et al.  Disorders of Affect Regulation: Alexithymia in Medical and Psychiatric Illness , 1999 .

[12]  R. Lane,et al.  Pervasive Emotion Recognition Deficit Common to Alexithymia and the Repressive Coping Style , 2000, Psychosomatic medicine.

[13]  W. Bucci.  Symptoms and symbols: A multiple code theory of Somatization , 1997 .

[14]  R. Bagby,et al.  An overview of the alexithymia construct. , 2000 .

[15]  James D. A. Parker,et al.  The handbook of emotional intelligence : theory, development, assessment, and application at home, school, and in the workplace , 2000 .

[16]  M. Lumley,et al.  Testing the alexithymia hypothesis: physiological and subjective responses during relaxation and stress. , 1997, The Journal of nervous and mental disease.

[17]  E. Klinger,et al.  Interaction of emotion and cognition in word recall , 1986 .

[18]  P. Salovey,et al.  Perceiving affective content in ambiguous visual stimuli: a component of emotional intelligence. , 1990, Journal of personality assessment.

[19]  Donald H. Saklofske,et al.  Personality, well-being and health correlates of trait emotional intelligence , 2005 .

[20]  K. Honkalampi,et al.  Is Alexithymia a Permanent Feature in Depressed Patients? , 2000, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.

[21]  G. Taylor.  Recent Developments in Alexithymia Theory and Research , 2000, Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie.

[22]  Daniel Péchoin.  Thésaurus Larousse : des idées aux mots, des mots aux idées , 1992 .

[23]  B. Rimé,et al.  A multimodal investigation of emotional responding in alexithymia , 2004 .

[24]  Michael W. Bridges,et al.  Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): a reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test. , 1994, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[25]  D. Watson,et al.  Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[26]  F. Craik,et al.  Levels of processing: A framework for memory research , 1972 .

[27]  D. O'neill.  Modern trends in psychosomatic medicine , 1955 .

[28]  W. Zung.  A SELF-RATING DEPRESSION SCALE. , 1965, Archives of general psychiatry.

[29]  O. Luminet,et al.  Alexithymia and the automatic processing of affective information: Evidence from the affective priming paradigm , 2006 .

[30]  S. Rajaram.  PERCEPTUAL EFFECTS ON REMEMBERING : RECOLLECTIVE PROCESSES IN PICTURE RECOGNITION MEMORY , 1996 .

[31]  R. Bagby,et al.  The twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale--I. Item selection and cross-validation of the factor structure. , 1994, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[32]  R. Bagby,et al.  The 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. III. Reliability and factorial validity in a community population. , 2003, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[33]  D. A. Weinberger.  The construct validity of the repressive coping style. , 1995 .

[34]  E. Tulving.  Memory and consciousness. , 1985 .

[35]  L. Lundh,et al.  Alexithymia and cognitive bias for emotional information , 2002 .

[36]  S. Dewhurst,et al.  Emotionality, distinctiveness, and recollective experience , 2000 .

[37]  M. Lumley.  Alexithymia and negative emotional conditions. , 2000, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[38]  R. Lane,et al.  Impaired Verbal and Nonverbal Emotion Recognition in Alexithymia , 1996, Psychosomatic medicine.

[39]  C. Vázquez,et al.  Mood-congruent recall of affectively toned stimuli: A meta-analytic review , 1992 .

[40]  G J Taylor,et al.  The Twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale--II. Convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity. , 1994, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[41]  F. Craik,et al.  Levels of Pro-cessing: A Framework for Memory Research , 1975 .

[42]  P. Salovey,et al.  Emotional Intelligence , 1990, Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences.

[43]  Alexithymia, memory of emotion, emotional awareness, and perfectionism. , 2002 .

[44]  S. Rajaram,et al.  States of awareness across multiple memory tasks: obtaining a "pure" measure of conscious recollection. , 2003, Acta psychologica.

[45]  J. Gardiner.  Functional aspects of recollective experience , 1988, Memory & cognition.

[46]  W. Bucci,et al.  Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Science: A Multiple Code Theory , 1997 .

[47]  M. Bleecker,et al.  Influence of verbal intelligence, sex, age, and education on the rey auditory verbal learning test , 1986 .

[48]  K. Ochsner,et al.  Are affective events richly recollected or simply familiar? The experience and process of recognizing feelings past. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[49]  Suparna Rajaram,et al.  Remembering and knowing: Two means of access to the personal past , 1993, Memory & cognition.

[50]  S. Rajaram.  The effects of conceptual salience and perceptual distinctiveness on conscious recollection , 1998 .

[51]  Robert S. Lockhart,et al.  CHARM is not enough: Comments on Eich's model of cued recall. , 1986 .

[52]  Graeme J. Taylor,et al.  The relationship between emotional intelligence and alexithymia , 2001 .

[53]  D Fremaux,et al.  Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the French Translation of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale , 1997, Perceptual and motor skills.

[54]  R. Bagby,et al.  Assessment of alexithymia : self-report and observer-rated measures , 2000 .