Feelings you can't imagine: towards a cognitive neuroscience of alexithymia

Abstract

Alexithymia, or 'no words for feelings', refers to an impairment of the ability to identify and communicate one's emotional state, in addition to diminished affect-related fantasy and imagery. A recent study by Mantani et al. reported reduced activation of the posterior cingulate cortex in people with alexithymia when they imagined a future happy event. This finding augments the emerging understanding of the neural basis of alexithymia, and potentially provides valuable insights into brain systems underlying normal emotion processing.