{
  "abstract": "Alexithymia is a trait characterized by impaired emotional awareness. Previous accounts examining the neurobiological underpinnings of this trait have centered on a variety of structures, and alexithymia-causing lesions occur in disparate locations. We use lesion network mapping to derive a neural circuit for alexithymia. In a neurosurgical cohort of 45 patients with gliomas (19 female; aged 18-75 years), we compute each lesion's connectivity to the rest of the brain using a normative connectome (n = 1,000) and relate these connectivity maps to preoperative Toronto Alexithymia Scale scores using permutation testing. Lesions associated with higher alexithymia are connected to a common network that includes the bilateral caudate heads (right greater than left) and the anterior cingulate cortex, peaking in the right caudate head (family-wise error-corrected p < 0.05). The network converges with coordinates from an independent meta-analysis of gray matter volume in alexithymia (13 of 14 coordinates positive; p = 0.0004). Of the three subscales, difficulty identifying feelings localized to this network. Within the striatum, the network spans the executive and limbic subdivisions. These findings suggest a caudate-centered circuit, at the interface of affective and executive systems, that unifies disparate lesion locations.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Mass General Brigham, Harvard Medical School"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "J. T. McMahon"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. R. Healey"
    },
    {
      "name": "Y. Sanchez-Gama"
    },
    {
      "name": "F. Campanella"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. Skrap"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. A. Ferguson"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/48w8bggc8dyxb.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.11.06.764956",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.06.764956v1.full",
  "id": "48w8bggc8dyxb",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.06.764956v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "neuroscience"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.06.764956v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-11-06",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/48w8bggc8dyxb.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-10T00:28:02Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.11.06.764956",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.06.764956v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A caudate-centered network for alexithymia derived from patients with brain tumors",
  "title_text": "A caudate-centered network for alexithymia derived from patients with brain tumors",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-10T00:28:02Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/48w8bggc8dyxb",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}