Affective abstraction predicts variation in alexithymia, depression, and autism spectrum quotient.

Researchers created a new test to see how well people group emotions together (like recognizing that fear from spiders and fear from heights are both 'fear'). People who struggled with this task also had more difficulty identifying their own emotions, higher depression scores, and more autism-related traits. The study suggests that how we organize emotions in our minds might affect emotional wellbeing across different conditions.

This study developed a novel task to measure 'affective abstraction' - how people categorize emotional states across different situations. Participants completed online tasks matching images based on emotional similarity, with variations testing discrete emotions versus general pleasantness/unpleasantness. Performance on these tasks showed medium-effect correlations with measures of alexithymia (difficulty identifying emotions), depression, and autism traits. Results were moderated by sampling population and partially by gender.

The study included predominantly White American adults aged 23-64 and combined data from multiple samples (n=435 total). Findings suggest affective abstraction may represent a transdiagnostic process relevant to emotional processing differences across various conditions.

Affective abstraction difficulties may represent a transdiagnostic marker for emotional processing challenges. Could potentially inform assessment approaches for alexithymia and related conditions. However, population-specific effects suggest interventions may need tailoring to individual characteristics and contexts.

Sample limited to predominantly White American adults aged 23-64. Results showed substantial variation across different populations studied. Some analyses were not preregistered. Sample size not clearly reported for individual components of the study.

Affective abstraction refers to how people conceptualize affective states in terms of category-level representations that generalize across specific situations (e.g., "fear" as evoked by heights, predators, and haunted houses). Here, we develop a novel task for assessing affective abstraction and test its relations with trait alexithymia, depression, and autism spectrum quotient. In a preregistered online study, participants completed a set of tasks in which they matched a cue image with one of two probe images based on similarity of affective experience. In a discrete emotion version of the task, the cue and target probe matched on a discrete emotion category while controlling for valence.

In a valence version of the task, the cue and target probe matched on valence (i.e., pleasantness or unpleasantness). We further varied the degree of abstraction such that some judgments crossed semantic categories (e.g., a house cue with animal probes). Accuracy, as indexed by the proportion of choices that accorded with norms, predicted trait measures of alexithymia, depression, and autism quotient with medium effect sizes. We conducted an integrative data analysis by including data from three other (nonpreregistered) samples (= 435) and found substantial moderation by sampling population (Amazon Mechanical Turk, college students) and partial moderation by gender identity.

Additional constraints on generalization include that our sample included predominantly White American adults between the ages of 23 and 64. These results provide preliminary support for the notion that affective abstraction may reflect a transdiagnostic psychological process of broad relevance to individual differences in affective processing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).