Orgasm consistency and its relationship to women’s self-reported and genital sexual response

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larah Maunder ◽  
Nina Micanovic ◽  
Jackie S. Huberman ◽  
Meredith L. Chivers
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Arousal ◽  
Stimulus Presentation ◽  
Sexual Motivation ◽  
Incentive Motivation ◽  
Sexual Response ◽  
Sexual History ◽  
Genital Arousal ◽  
Incentive Value ◽  
Motivation Model ◽  
Age Range

According to the Incentive Motivation Model (IMM) of sexual response, the rewarding and pleasurable aspects of a sexual act strengthen its incentive value and capacity to trigger sexual motivation. One such sexual reward is orgasm consistency, the percentage of time that orgasm is experienced during a sex act. Orgasm consistency may serve to influence the incentive value of a sexual behaviour. We tested this tenet of the IMM by examining whether orgasm consistency predicted women’s sexual responses to films depicting various sex acts. Data were collected from four separate studies examining women’s genital and subjective sexual response. Participants ( N = 144, age range = 18–65) were presented with neutral and erotic film stimuli while their genital arousal was assessed using vaginal photoplethysmography or thermography. Participants reported their sexual arousal level before, during, and after each stimulus presentation, and completed questionnaires assessing sexual history and experiences, sexual interests, and sexual functioning. Orgasm consistency during penile–vaginal intercourse (PVI) significantly predicted genital arousal to films depicting PVI, but similar relationships were not observed between genital or self-reported arousal and orgasm consistency during receptive oral sex and masturbation. Findings suggest that increasing orgasm consistency to a sex act may increase its incentive value, thereby triggering greater genital response to depictions of that act. Lack of consistent orgasm or generally pleasurable and rewarding sex may limit the capacity of sex acts to trigger sexual motivation in future sexual encounters, thus contributing to low sexual arousal and desire in women.

scholarly journals The Power of the Present: Effects of Three Mindfulness Tasks on Women’s Sexual Response

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Velten ◽  
Lori A. Brotto ◽  
Meredith L. Chivers ◽  
Gerrit Hirschfeld ◽  
Jürgen Margraf
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Arousal ◽  
Mechanisms Of Action ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sexual Response ◽  
Mindfulness Practice ◽  
Imagery Task ◽  
Genital Arousal ◽  
Subjective Sexual Arousal ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Subjective Arousal

Mindfulness-based interventions are effective at improving sexual dysfunctions in women, yet the mechanisms of action are less clear. Our objective was to investigate the impact of three mindfulness exercises on women’s sexual response. Forty-nine women participated in a laboratory session involving a series of 5-min exercises and erotic films. They completed three mindfulness-based exercises and a mental-imagery task. Genital and subjective arousal were measured continuously during erotic films, and genital arousal was measured during the exercises. A focus on the genitals led to greater genital arousal during the exercise. A focus on sensations in the body and on the genitals was associated with greater subjective sexual arousal during erotic films. Effects were small in size. Taken together, the focus of attention during a mindfulness practice may differentially affect genital and subjective sexual arousal and has implications for women experiencing difficulties in different aspects of sexual response.

Gender-specific genital and subjective sexual arousal to prepotent sexual stimuli in androphilic men and gynephilic women

2021 ◽  
pp. e20210004
Author(s):  
Nina Micanovic ◽  
Amanda D. Timmers ◽  
Meredith L. Chivers
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Arousal ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Sexual Response ◽  
Sex Characteristics ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Specific Response ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Sexual Stimuli ◽  
Subjective Sexual Arousal ◽  
Gender Specific

Marked differences have been found in men’s and women’s sexual response patterns, contingent upon their sexual orientation; androphilic (attracted to men) and gynephilic (attracted to women) men demonstrate greatest genital and self-reported arousal to their preferred stimulus type (a “gender-specific” response), whereas androphilic women do not, and findings for gynephilic women have been mixed. While there have been many investigations into gynephilic men’s and androphilic women’s (i.e., heterosexual men/women) sexual response, there has been less investigation into the specificity of sexual response of androphilic men and gynephilic women. Given the complex nature of sexual stimuli that are used in sexual response research, it is often unclear to what extent contextual cues (e.g., cues other than the sexual actor’s primary and secondary sex characteristics, such as physical attractiveness, sexual activity, etc.) influence participants’ sexual response patterns. As such, the current study examined genital, discrete self-reported, and continuous self-reported responses of androphilic men ( n = 22) and gynephilic women ( n = 10) to prepotent sexual features (stimuli thought to elicit automatic sexual arousal: erect penises and exposed vulvas), non-prepotent sexual features (flaccid penises and pubic triangles) and neutral stimuli (clothed men and women). Both samples exhibited a gender-specific pattern of genital, self-reported, and continuous self-reported sexual arousal. Similarly, all measures of sexual arousal were generally found to be greatest to “prepotent” sexual cues. Implications for understanding gender specificity of sexual response are discussed.

scholarly journals Effects of Pornography Use and Demographic Parameters on Sexual Response during Masturbation and Partnered Sex in Women

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 3130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean M. McNabney ◽  
Krisztina Hevesi ◽  
David L. Rowland
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Satisfaction ◽  
Menopausal Status ◽  
Average Frequency ◽  
Sexual Response ◽  
Sexual History ◽  
Sexual Activities ◽  
Depression Status ◽  
Pornography Use ◽  
Number Of Sexual Partners ◽  
Anxiety Depression

The effect of pornography on sexual response is understudied, particularly among women. A multinational, community-based sample of 2433 women at least 18 years of age completed a 42-item, opt-in questionnaire collecting information on demographic and sexual history characteristics, use of pornography during masturbation, frequency of pornography use, and sexual response parameters. Pornography use and average frequency were compared across demographic variables. We also examined how pornography frequency predicted differences in self-reported arousal difficulty; orgasmic difficulty, latency, and pleasure; and the percent of sexual activities ending in orgasm during both masturbation and partnered sex. On average, women using pornography were younger, and reported more interest in sex. Pornography frequency differed significantly by menopausal status, sexual orientation, anxiety/depression status, number of sexual partners, and origin of data collection. During masturbation, more frequent pornography use predicted lower arousal difficulty and orgasmic difficulty, greater pleasure, and a higher percentage of masturbatory events leading to orgasm. Frequency of pornography use predicted only lower arousal difficulty and longer orgasmic latencies during partnered sex, having no effect on the other outcome variables. Pornography use frequency did not predict overall relationship satisfaction or sexual relationship satisfaction. Overall, more frequent pornography use was generally associated with more favorable sexual response outcomes during masturbation, while not affecting most partnered sex parameters. Several demographic and relationship covariates appear to more consistently and strongly predict orgasmic problems during partnered sexual activity than pornography use.

Preliminary Evidence on How the Dual Control Model Predicts Female Sexual Response to a Bogus Negative Feedback

2020 ◽  
pp. 003329412090731
Author(s):  
Reina Granados ◽  
Joana Carvalho ◽  
Juan Carlos Sierra
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Arousal ◽  
Negative Feedback ◽  
Control Model ◽  
Sexual Response ◽  
Dual Control ◽  
Sexual Performance ◽  
Sexual Excitation ◽  
Subjective Sexual Arousal ◽  
Sexual Responses ◽  
Dual Control Model

The Dual Control Model of sexual response has been mostly tested with men. As such, there is a lack of evidence on how such model applies to women’s experience of sexual arousal, particularly when they face a threatening situation such as the threat of sexual performance failure. The aim of the current study was to test whether the Dual Control Model dimensions predict women’s sexual responses to a bogus negative feedback about their sexual performance. In addition, 22 women were exposed to a sexually explicit film clip, while their genital arousal was being measured. During this presentation, a bogus negative feedback, aimed at increasing women’s anxiety about their sexual performance, was provided. Vaginal photopletismography and self-report questions were used as means to evaluate women’s genital and subjective sexual arousal, respectively. The Sexual Excitation/Sexual Inhibition Inventory for Women was further used to capture women’s sexual dynamics. Regression analysis on the high-order factors revealed that sexual excitation proneness was the only predictor of the subjective sexual responses, while none of the factors has predicted genital arousal. “Arousability” and “Concerns about sexual function” dimensions predicted subjective sexual arousal. Sexual arousability may prevent women of lowering their subjective sexual responses in a sexually demanding situation, while “Concerns about sexual function” may have the opposite role, thus being a target of clinical interest. This work provides new data on the Dual Control Model of sexual response, and particularly on its role in women’s sexual functioning.

Long-term representations of melodies in Western listeners: Influences of familiarity, musical expertise, tempo and structure

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 665-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Büdenbender ◽  
Gunter Kreutz
Keyword(s):  
Stimulus Presentation ◽  
Dependent Measure ◽  
Musical Expertise ◽  
Musical Tempo ◽  
Age Range ◽  
Gating Paradigm

We investigated the effects of familiarity, level of musical expertise, musical tempo, and structural boundaries on the identification of familiar and unfamiliar tunes. Healthy Western listeners ( N = 62; age range 14–64 years) judged their level of familiarity with a preselected set of melodies when the number of tones of a given melody was increased from trial to trial according to the so-called gating paradigm. The number of tones served as one dependent measure. The second dependent measure was the physical duration of the stimulus presentation until listeners identified a melody as familiar or unfamiliar. Results corroborate previous work, suggesting that listeners need less information to recognize familiar as compared to unfamiliar melodies. Both decreasing and increasing the original tempo by a factor of two delayed the identification of familiar melodies. Furthermore, listeners had more difficulty identifying unfamiliar melodies when tempo was increased. Finally, musical expertise significantly influenced identification of either melodic category, i.e., reducing the required number of tones. Taken together, the findings support theories which suggest that tempo information is coded in melody representation, and that musical expertise is associated with especially efficient strategies for accessing long-term representations of melodic materials.

18. Sexual Self-Schemas and Neural Processing of Sexual Information in Women

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie M. Nanos
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Arousal ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Sexual Response ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Sexual Information ◽  
Sexual Stimuli ◽  
Empirically Supported ◽  
Will Self

Previous research suggests that humans respond differently to reproductively-relevant information in the environment, including heightened neural responses to sexual versus non-sexual cues. Limited research, however, has examined individual variation in the early neural processing of sexual information. Sexual self-schemas, or one’s views of themselves as a sexual person, provide a stable cognitive framework for processing sexually-relevant information, and may relate to women’s sexual responses. This study seeks to examine how women’s sexual self-schemas relate to the early neural processing of sexual information and their subsequent subjective sexual arousal. Twenty women are being recruited from the Queen’s psychology subject pool and data collection is currently underway. I am assessing women’s neural responses to sexual and non-sexual images (i.e., erect penises versus elbows) using electroencephalography (EEG), and women are reporting their feelings of arousal to the sexual images. Women are also completing a measure of sexual self-schemas. I predict that women who have more positive sexual self-schema scores will have a stronger neural response to sexual stimuli than women with more negative schema scores. In addition, I predict that women with more positive schema scores will self-report higher sexual arousal than women with more negative scores. The findings of this study will improve our understanding of the role of sexual self-schemas and early neural processing in women’s sexual response, thus lending to the development of a comprehensive, empirically-supported model of sexual response that accounts for within-gender variability. 

1. Effect of Gender Cues in Audio Narratives on Same-Gender Attracted Women’s Psychophysiological Sexual Arousal

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina Bouchard
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Arousal ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Female Partner ◽  
Sexual Response ◽  
Category Specificity ◽  
Sexual Responses ◽  
Same Gender ◽  
Audiovisual Stimuli ◽  
Sexual Stories

The purpose of my honours thesis project is to gain further understanding of subjective and genital arousal patterns of women who have varying degrees of same-genderattractions. While other-gender attracted women show a category-nonspecific or generalized pattern of sexual response to their preferred and nonpreferred gender, samegenderattracted women show a category-specific pattern of responding, with significantly greater sexual response to their preferred gender, when exposed to lowintensity audiovisual stimuli (Chivers, Seto, & Blanchard, 2007). Past research has examined same-gender attracted women’s sexual responses to audiovisual stimuli (Chivers et al., 2007) and other-gender attracted women’s sexual responses to audio narratives (Chivers & Timmers, in press); however, no research to date has focused on same-gender attracted women’s sexual responses to audio narratives, which is a less intense stimulus modality (e.g., Heiman, 1980). Study procedure involved presentation of sexual and nonsexual audio narratives, which described interactions with male and female partners, to women with varying degrees of same-gender attractions. I will examine the category-specificity of same-gender attracted women’s genital and subjective sexual response. I expect that same-gender attracted women will have a category-specific pattern of sexual response, with significantly greater genital and subjective sexual arousal to sexual stories featuring a female partner. Also, I expect that genital and subjective arousal to sexual stories featuring a female partner will increase with degree of samegenderattraction.

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