Emotion-processing deficit in alexithymia

College undergraduates were identified as alexithymic or control, based on their scores on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS; Taylor, Ryan, & Bagby, 1985). All subjects were presented standardized emotion-eliciting color sli des for 6 s while facial muscle, heart rate, and skin conductance activity were recorded. Stimuli were presented a second time while subjects were ask ed to provide emotion self-reports using a paper-and-pencil version of the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM; Lang, 1980) and to generate a list of words d escribing their emotional reaction to each slide. Consistent with the defin ition of alexithymia as a syndrome characterized, in part, by a deficit in the identification of emotion states, high TAS subjects supplied fewer emot ion-related words than did controls to describe their response to the slide s. Alexithymics also indicated less variation along the arousal dimension o f the SAM, produced fewer specific skin conductance responses and showed le ss heart rate deceleration to the slides, regardless of category. No valenc e-related differences between alexithymic and control subjects were noted.