2005/01/01 by Golnaz Tabibnia, Eran Zaidel · 1 citation
Neuroscience · Psychology · #Spatial Neglect and Hemispheric Dysfunction #Hemispheric Asymmetry in Neuroscience #Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies #Alexithymia #Psychology #Right hemisphere #Lateralization of brain function #Laterality #Cognitive psychology #Neuroscience #Developmental psychology #Clinical psychology
paper · doi:10.1159/000083166
openalex publication_date 2005/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
BACKGROUND: One neural model of alexithymia relates the condition to poor interhemispheric transfer, while another model associates it with a disturbance in right hemisphere activity. METHODS: The available empirical evidence directly relating alexithymia to a deficit in interhemispheric transfer and/or in right hemisphere activity is critically reviewed. RESULTS: The interhemispheric transfer studies have related alexithymia to a deficit in transfer, but the nature and directionality of the transfer deficit have yet to be determined. Many of the hemispheric specialization studies do not relate alexithymia to a right hemisphere dysfunction. Shortcomings of these studies are reviewed. CONCLUSIONS: The hypothesis that alexithymia is related to a deficit in the right-to-left transfer of emotional information and to a right hemisphere impairment in emotion processing remains to be tested directly and definitively. Suggestions for future research are made.