Intact physiological response to arousal with impaired emotional recognition in alexithymia.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of the present study was to clarify the relationship between the recognition of emotion and physiological response to emotion (i.e. arousal) in alexithymia.


METHODS
This study investigated differences in physiological arousal state, as measured by continuous heart rate, electrodermal activity (EDA) and self-reported emotional intensity before and after exposure to an emotionally arousing or neutral videotape among 41 high- or low-alexithymic young adult participants.


RESULTS
Across subjects, emotionally negative stimuli produced increased physiological arousal. However, high-alexithymic participants exposed to the arousing videotape did not report increased subjective emotional intensity, as did low-alexithymic participants. In addition, the baseline EDA of high-alexithymic participants was significantly higher than that of the low-alexithymic participants.


CONCLUSIONS
Results support the prediction that alexithymia leads to a decoupling between subjective and physiological arousal when exposed to emotionally negative stimuli. This decoupling may increase alexithymic individuals' risks for stress-related illness.
Department of Psychology, Marquette University, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881, USA.
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LA
Stone
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Nielson
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001364:Awareness; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires