Figure 1.

In Experiment 1, both Difficulty Identifying Feelings (DIF) and Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT) were significant predictors of recognition memory (d′) after accounting for age and sex. In this post-hoc mediation model (showing coefficient (p) for each path), the total effect of DIF on d′ (path c) is not significant (consistent with the lack of bivariate correlation between them; see Table 2). Instead, there is a significant relationship between DIF and EOT (path a) and between EOT and d′ (path b), which results in a weaker direct effect than total effect of DIF on d′ (i.e., path c′). This demonstrates mediation. That is, the effect of DIF on d′ did not occur independently from the effect of EOT on d′. Instead, EOT mediated the relationship between DIF and d′; EOT was the primary contributor to reduced memory in alexithymia.