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2354 – Alexithymia And Emotional Salience In Item Selection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2020

M. Martin ,
G.V. Jones  and
C.N.G. Dawes
M. Martin
Affiliation:
Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford
G.V. Jones
Affiliation:
Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry
C.N.G. Dawes
Affiliation:
Media and Communications, The London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

Abstract

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Introduction

Evidence associates alexithymia with a range of psychopathology including, in particular, depression.

Objectives

To investigate whether alexithymia is linked to enhanced levels of dysphoric salience in the individual's environment.

Aims

To determine whether item selection among individuals with lower and higher levels of alexithymia is sensitive to euphoric and dysphoric linkages.

Methods

A set of items was selected by each participant (N = 106), and for each item its perceived value established via the relation v(i, n) = (n - i)/(n - 1). A set of five affective saliences was elicited for each item.

Results

Regression established that whereas perceived values for lower levels of alexithymia were associated with emotional comfort and past happiness, for higher levels they were associated with present sadness (Figures 1 and 2).

Fig. 1

Low alexithymia: Standardized dependence of perceived value on affective saliences (*p < .05)

Conclusions

Enhanced salience of present sadness in the judgements of those with higher alexithymia levels may play a role in depression.

Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 28 , Issue S1: Abstracts of the 21th European Congress of Psychiatry , 2013 , 28-E1482
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2012
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