Graduate Student Annika Allen & Dr. Brown Publish New Study in Emotion

Graduate student Annika Allen & Dr. Brown’s new study was recently published in Emotion. In this study, they examined how an individual’s level of alexithymia (i.e., difficulty identifying and describing their emotions) is associated with sympathetic nervous system reactivity and empathic accuracy during social stress and interpersonal emotion disclosure. The study found that individuals higher in alexithymia had greater sympathetic nervous system reactivity when undergoing the stressful task and emotional disclosure conversation. Additionally, alexithymia was associated with one’s emotions being rated less accurately by a partner, but not with worse accuracy at rating that partner’s emotions. These findings suggest that the social challenges of alexithymia may stem from difficulties conveying emotions in ways that others can effectively interpret and support.

Read the advance online publication here.