cingulate cortex in subjects with alexithymia ware also observed by Liemburg et al.16 during RS condition. Therefore, the decrease of functional connectivity between ACC and PCC observed in our study could reflect both affective and cognitive disturbances in alexithymia (i.e. the impairment in emotional awareness and the externally-oriented thinking). This hypothesis is also in accordance with our correlational data (i.e., negative correlation between ACC/PCC connectivity and both DDF and EOT TAS-20 factors). Compared to Liemburg et al.16, we did not observe an increase of functional connectivity in brain areas involved in sensory input. The authors, using Independent Component Analysis (i.e., a data-driven method that separate the fMRI signal into spatially independent networks), showed that within the DMN, compared to controls, alexithymic participant showed higher functional connectivity in the precentral gyrus and occipital areas suggesting a tendency of the alexithymic towards strong bodily expressions of emotions16. Moreover, Liemburg et al. also did not detect a lateralization. The discrepancies between these results and the present research may be explained by differences in their study designs and methods (i.e., EEG vs fMRI, ROIs selections etc.).
