Emotional recognition difficulties may stem more from alexithymia than autistic traits

Emotional recognition difficulties may stem more from alexithymia than autistic traits

A new study published in the journal Development and Psychopathology offers a new perspective on why some individuals with elevated autistic traits struggle to recognize emotions in faces. Researchers found that while autistic traits were linked to poorer recognition of emotions in human faces, this association disappeared when controlling for alexithymia—a trait characterized by difficulty identifying and describing one’s own emotions. In fact,…