From Talia Morris
I found your short news item on “sense with no feeling” intriguing (22 November, p 19). As a person with an autistic spectrum disorder (Asperger’s syndrome), I find the concept of a somatic effect normally associated with a negative emotion (such as the galvanic skin response mentioned in the article) without the expected accompanying emotion to be entirely consistent with my own personal experiences.
When I witness real or apparent pain or injury being inflicted on someone else, the experience is usually accompanied by a distinctive cutaneous sensation similar to pressure and usually felt in the upper backs of my legs (although it can be somewhat more generalised).
I have also been known to shed tears under stressful conditions without having any overt perception of negative emotion such as sadness, anger or fear.
Queenscliff, New South Wales, Australia
