caa a22 4500 606202595 CHVBK 20210128100953.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150701xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00429-014-0790-0 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00429-014-0790-0 The embodied emotion in cerebellum: a neuroimaging study of alexithymia [Elektronische Daten] [Daniela Laricchiuta, Laura Petrosini, Eleonora Picerni, Debora Cutuli, Mariangela Iorio, Chiara Chiapponi, Carlo Caltagirone, Fabrizio Piras, Gianfranco Spalletta] Neuroimaging studies have indicated that people with alexithymia show structural and functional alterations in brain areas associated with emotional awareness, as amygdala, insula, anterior cingulate cortex, fusiform gyrus and parahippocampal gyrus, and only occasionally alterations in the cerebellar activity were reported. The main goal of the present study was to investigate the associations between gray and white matter cerebellar macro- (Voxel-Based Morphometry) and micro- (Mean Diffusivity and Fractional Anisotropy) structural measures (evaluated by means of a 3-T high-resolution structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging and a Diffusion Tensor Imaging scan protocol) and the presence of alexithymia (evaluated by means of 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale), in a sample of 60 healthy subjects having low, borderline or high alexithymia. As a corollary aim, the associations between volumes of amygdala, insula, anterior cingulate cortex, fusiform gyrus or parahippocampal gyrus and alexithymia scores have been investigated. Cerebellar gray matter volumes were positively associated with alexithymia scores. The subjects with high alexithymic traits had larger volumes in the bilateral Crus 1 in comparison to the remaining subjects. Volumes of right amygdala, left insula and left parahippocampal gyrus were negatively associated with the alexithymia scores. Thus, alexithymia scores were linked directly with cerebellar areas and inversely with limbic and para-limbic system, proposing a possible functional modality for the cerebellar involvement in emotional processing. The increased volumes in Crus 1 of subjects with high alexithymic traits may be related to an altered embodiment process leading to not-cognitively interpreted emotions. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2014 Voxel-based morphometry nationallicence Diffusion tensor imaging nationallicence Gray matter nationallicence Limbic system nationallicence Emotion regulation nationallicence Embodiment nationallicence Laricchiuta Daniela IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut Petrosini Laura IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut Picerni Eleonora IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut Cutuli Debora IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut Iorio Mariangela IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut Chiapponi Chiara IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut Caltagirone Carlo IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut Piras Fabrizio IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut Spalletta Gianfranco IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut Brain Structure and Function Springer Berlin Heidelberg 220/4(2015-07-01), 2275-2287 1863-2653 220:4<2275 2015 220 429 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-014-0790-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-014-0790-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Laricchiuta Daniela IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Petrosini Laura IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Picerni Eleonora IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Cutuli Debora IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Iorio Mariangela IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Chiapponi Chiara IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Caltagirone Carlo IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Piras Fabrizio IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Spalletta Gianfranco IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00142, Rome, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Brain Structure and Function Springer Berlin Heidelberg 220/4(2015-07-01), 2275-2287 1863-2653 220:4<2275 2015 220 429