Objective: To compare the differences of event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by the target pictures during subliminal or supraliminal affective priming task between alexithymic and nonalexithymic, and explore neurophysiological mechanism of the deficit of automatic emotion processing in alexithymia. Methods: The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was applied twice with a three months interval, alexithymic and nonalexithymic were selected to finish affective priming tasks. Prime pictures were presented subliminally or supraliminally, and subjects were required to judge whether the target picture was positive or negative, while the ERPs were recorded. Results: In supraliminal priming tasks, the alexithymic was characterized by the decreased P2 peak amplitude and N600 (difference wave, primed minus unprimed) peak amplitude, while in subliminal affective priming tasks, there were no significant differences of peak latencies and amplitudes between alexithymic and nonalexithymic. Conclusion: This study provides further ERPs evidences to support that alexthymic has deficit in automatic processing for emotional information that is aware of, while has no deficit in automatic processing for emotional information that is not aware of.
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