Abstract:Alexithymia is a personality characteristic that is difficult to express and recognize emotions. This personality characteristic is closely related to various mental disorders and can affect the effectiveness of treatment for mental disorders, prolong the course of treatment, and increase the risk of suicide. At present, the mechanism of alexithymia is not clear, and the unknow etiology and lack of objective indicators for diagnosis are urgent problems that need to be addressed in clinical diagnosis and treatment. Positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and other imaging techniques are important objective means for studying alexithymia. This paper reviews the neuroimaging advances in alexithymia from the aspects of cerebral hemisphere, limbic system, and other brain regions, aiming to provide reference for the evaluation and intervention of alexithymia.