The importance of identifying underlying process abnormalities in alexithymia: Implications of the three-process model and a single case study illustration.

We present an in-depth case study of a rare individual (whom we will refer to as "Jane") who reported an inability to experience emotion. Jane completed a range of assessments measuring alexithymia, emotional awareness, and emotion recognition ability. She, along with 22 control participants, also underwent skin conductance (SC) measurement and facial electromyography (EMG) during exposure to affective images, and self reported the valence/arousal of their responses to those images. Jane scored high on alexithymia and low on emotional awareness; yet she performed well on emotion recognition measures and showed a typical pattern of valence ratings. Her SC responses and subjective arousal ratings were atypically low, and some of her EMG responses were also atypical. Jane's deficit profile highlights the dissociability of self-focused emotional awareness and other-focused emotion recognition ability, as well as the dissociability between the generation and representation of valence and arousal (with both subjective and objective measures).

Revisiting the alerting effect of light: A systematic review.

Light plays an essential role in maintaining alertness levels. Like other non-image-forming responses, the alerting effect of light is influenced by its spectral wavelength, duration and intensity. Alertness levels are also dependent on circadian rhythm (process C) and homeostatic sleep pressure (process S), consistent with the classic two-process model of sleep regulation. Over the last decade, there has been increasing recognition of an additional process (referred to as the third process) in sleep regulation. This third process seems to receive sensory inputs from body systems such as digestion, and is usually synchronised with process C and process S. Previous studies on the alerting effect of light have been mostly conducted in laboratories. Although these studies are helpful in delineating the impact of process C and process S, their ability to assist in understanding the third process is limited. This systematic review investigated the factors that influence the alerting effect of light by examining randomised controlled trials and randomised or counterbalanced crossover studies. Factors that influence light's alerting effect were examined with reference to the three-process model. The post-illuminance alerting effect was examined separately due to its potential to offer flexible workplace-based light interventions to increase or maintain employees' alertness.