ABSTRACT

This special issue brings together two important reviews and seven cutting-edge empirical papers concerning the influence of alexithymia on cognitive and emotional processing. Alexithymia is a multifaceted construct that is characterised by difficulties identifying one’s feelings; difficulties describing one’s feelings to others; and an externally focused, utilitarian cognitive style. In this paper, we begin by considering how emotion science has evolved in its understanding of personality traits, before highlighting the potential importance of alexithymia research for the field of cognition and emotion. After summarising the historical context of alexithymia research, we consider the contributions of the featured papers to the literature of cognition and emotion. The collected works highlight that alexithymia influences several aspects of how one perceives and responds to neutral and emotional situations, by impacting upon multiple processes (attention, appraisals, memory, language and behaviour), showing the importance of drawing better connections amongst multiple processes, toward disentangling the effects of early processes on later ones. A lack of correspondence between processes, as well as amongst alexithymia facets, is another central finding of the special issue. This pattern is thought to lead to ineffective and inflexible emotion regulation and to pose significant risks for physical and mental illness.

摘要

本期特刊汇集了关于述情障碍对认知和情绪加工的影响的两篇重要评论和七篇前沿实证论文。述情障碍是一种多方面的结构，其特点是难以识别自己的感受；难以向他人描述自己的感受；以及注重外部的、功利主义的认知风格。在本文中，我们首先考虑情绪科学在对人格特征的理解方面是如何演变的，然后再强调述情障碍研究对认知和情绪领域的潜在重要性。在总结述情障碍研究的历史背景后，我们考虑了特色论文对认知和情感文献的贡献。收集的作品强调述情障碍通过影响多个过程（注意力、评估、记忆、语言和行为）来影响人们对中性和情绪情况的感知和反应的几个方面，表明在多个过程之间建立更好的联系的重要性，解开早期过程对后期过程的影响。进程之间以及述情障碍方面之间缺乏对应关系，是该特刊的另一个核心发现。这种模式被认为会导致无效和僵化的情绪调节，并对身心疾病构成重大风险。展示了在多个流程之间建立更好的联系的重要性，以消除早期流程对后期流程的影响。进程之间以及述情障碍方面之间缺乏对应关系，是该特刊的另一个核心发现。这种模式被认为会导致无效和僵化的情绪调节，并对身心疾病构成重大风险。展示了在多个流程之间建立更好的联系的重要性，以消除早期流程对后期流程的影响。进程之间以及述情障碍方面之间缺乏对应关系，是该特刊的另一个核心发现。这种模式被认为会导致无效和僵化的情绪调节，并对身心疾病构成重大风险。