Modulation of emotional arousal encoding by Alexithymia in EEG and electrodermal signals.

Alexithymia is a subclincal condition affecting 10% of working population. It is defined as a multidimensional deficit in recognizing, representing and verbalising emotions, difficulty in regulation of internal emotional states, and a tendency towards externally (rather than internally) orientated thinking. It is a risk factor in recovery from depression, trauma, and a wide range of neurological and physiological conditions. However, the relationship between the diagnostic criteria, and subscales capturing the different dimensions of cognitive representation, strategic regulation, affective response and recognition, do not currently map cleanly onto neural and behaviour correlates, making targeted intervention very difficult. Existing attempts to identify the different brain networks underpinning the different dimensions have largely focused on fMRI, or Voxel Brain morphology, which i) very expensive, and ii) cannot take into account the different temporal stages of functional processing of affective information. This project will advance an information processing account of the deficits in Alexithymia and identify those temporal and functional stages by using Electroencephalogram (EEG) data, combined with measurement of physiological arousal with galvanic skin response.