Bidirectional relationship between insular grey matter volume and alexithymia: Evidence from a longitudinal study.

Background: The insula is considered to be involved in emotional cognitive processes, and may be structurally altered in people with alexithymia. However, it remains unclear how the relationship between the insula and alexithymia changes over time. This study aimed to investigate whether alexithymia has longitudinal relationship with the insular structure.

Methods: Having processed structural MRI data via FreeSurfer, the insula was divided into five sub-regions, and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale was administered to assess alexithymia in the general population. Subsequently, we established the latent change score models between insular sub-regions and the alexithymia (N = 252).

Results: The TAS-20 mean value of the sample at Time 1 was not significantly different by sex (t = -0.993, df = 250, p = 0.321), while the TAS-20 mean value at Time 2 was slightly different by sex (t = 2.025, df = 250, p = 0.044). Most insular grey matter volumes at Time 1 and Time 2 were significantly associated with TAS-20 at Time 2. The baseline alexithymia and insular grey matter volume positively predicted the other's rate of change between Time 1 and Time 2 in a bidirectional way.

Limitations: This study had a limited number of measurement time points, potential bias due to smaller sample sizes and gender imbalance, as well as the potential for inaccuracy in the self-report measure of alexithymia.

Conclusions: Time-lagged alexithymia changes and insular grey matter volume changes occur in coupled manner over time, which might improve our understanding of the neurological underpinnings of alexithymia, and shed light on clinical and psychological treatment for alexithymia.