scholarly journals Association between Psychopathological Dimensions and Sexual Functioning/Sexual Arousal in Young Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 3584
Author(s):  
Franklin Soler ◽  
Reina Granados ◽  
Ana I. Arcos-Romero ◽  
Cristóbal Calvillo ◽  
Ana Álvarez-Muelas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Sexual Arousal ◽  
Sexual Functioning ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Sexual Stimuli ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Subjective Sexual Arousal ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Visual Sexual Stimuli

Psychological-psychiatric factors have a different effect on sexual functioning in men and women. This research aimed to examine the association between psychopathological dimensions and dimensions of sexual functioning in Spanish young adults in two studies. Study 1 examined sexual functioning and psychopathological dimensions in 700 women and 516 men. Study 2 conducted an experimental laboratory task to evaluate subjective sexual arousal and genital sensations when watching visual sexual stimuli in a subsample of participants from Study 1 (143 women and 123 men). As a result, the first study showed that depression and anxiety-related symptoms had a negative effect, both in men and women, and having a partner had a positive influence on the dimensions of sexual functioning. The second study showed that anxiety symptoms were positively associated with subjective sexual arousal in both men and women, and anxiety was associated with the assessment of genital sensations in men. The differences between the results of anxiety may be explained because sexual arousal was evaluated in general terms in Study 1, whereas it was evaluated as a state in Study 2. These findings confirm that the presence of psychopathological symptoms contributes to sexual functioning, as well as the necessity of strengthening mental illness prevention programs that include sexual health components.

Psychophysiological and subjective sexual arousal to visual sexual stimuli in new women

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 237-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori A. Brotto ◽  
Darlynne Gehring ◽  
Carolin Klein ◽  
Boris B Gorzalka ◽  
Sydney Thomson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Arousal ◽  
New Women ◽  
Sexual Stimuli ◽  
Subjective Sexual Arousal ◽  
Visual Sexual Stimuli

scholarly journals Neural substrates of sexual arousal are not sex dependent

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (31) ◽  
pp. 15671-15676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Mitricheva ◽  
Rui Kimura ◽  
Nikos K. Logothetis ◽  
Hamid R. Noori
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Sexual Arousal ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Biological Sex ◽  
Sexual Stimuli ◽  
Visual Sexual Stimuli

Sexual arousal is a dynamical, highly coordinated neurophysiological process that is often induced by visual stimuli. Numerous studies have proposed that the cognitive processing stage of responding to sexual stimuli is the first stage, in which sex differences occur, and the divergence between men and women has been attributed to differences in the concerted activity of neural networks. The present comprehensive metaanalysis challenges this hypothesis and provides robust quantitative evidence that the neuronal circuitries activated by visual sexual stimuli are independent of biological sex. Sixty-one functional magnetic resonance imaging studies (1,850 individuals) that presented erotic visual stimuli to men and women of different sexual orientation were identified. Coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation was used to conduct metaanalyses. Sensitivity and clustering analyses of averaged neuronal response patterns were performed to investigate robustness of the findings. In contrast to neutral stimuli, sexual pictures and videos induce significant activations in brain regions, including insula, middle occipital, anterior cingulate and fusiform gyrus, amygdala, striatum, pulvinar, and substantia nigra. Cluster analysis suggests stimulus type as the most, and biological sex as the least, predictor for classification. Contrast analysis further shows no significant sex-specific differences within groups. Systematic review of sex differences in gray matter volume of brain regions associated with sexual arousal (3,723 adults) did not show any causal relationship between structural features and functional response to visual sexual stimuli. The neural basis of sexual arousal in humans is associated with sexual orientation yet, contrary to the widely accepted view, is not different between women and men.

Men and women differ in amygdala response to visual sexual stimuli

2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Hamann ◽  
Rebecca A Herman ◽  
Carla L Nolan ◽  
Kim Wallen
Keyword(s):  
Men And Women ◽  
Sexual Stimuli ◽  
Amygdala Response ◽  
Visual Sexual Stimuli

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 Reliability and Validity of a Set of Sexual Stimuli in a Sample of Young Colombian Heterosexual Women

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-107
Author(s):  
M. Gómez-Lugo ◽  
◽  
D. Saavedra-Roa ◽  
C. P. Pérez-Durán ◽  
J. Marchal-Bertrand ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Arousal ◽  
External Validity ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Affective Responses ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Sexual Stimuli ◽  
Heterosexual Women ◽  
Subjective Sexual Arousal ◽  
Film Clips ◽  
Colombian Women

Objective: The aim of this research is to validate a set of sexual stimuli in young heterosexual Colombian women. Present study examined women’s sexual and affective responses to sexual film clips. Design and Method: Six videos of 6:00 minute-long were used. A total of 24 women were assessed. Objective (photoplethysmograph) and subjective (Multidimensional Scale to Assess Subjective Sexual Arousal) sexual arousal were measured. Also the Self-Assessment Manikin, and some socio-psycho-sexual questions were used. Results: The results showed three sexual excerpts which were clearly superior to the others. These three sexual excerpts generated internally consistent measurements; moreover, good indicators of external validity have been observed with statistically significant differences as expected. Conclusions: It has been shown that with healthy young women these three stimuli produce objective sexual arousal.

scholarly journals Visual attention and sexual arousal in women with and without sexual dysfunction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Velten ◽  
Sonia Milani ◽  
Jürgen Margraf ◽  
Lori Anne Brotto
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dysfunction ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Sexual Arousal ◽  
Sexual Functioning ◽  
Fixation Duration ◽  
Clinical Group ◽  
Heterosexual Couples ◽  
Sexual Stimuli ◽  
Genital Area ◽  
Total Fixation

Attending to sexual stimuli is an important means to facilitate sexual arousal and is thereby relevant for healthy sexual functioning. Studies suggest that sexual dysfunction is associated with less attention towards sexual stimuli. The goal of this study was to use an eye-tracking-based free-viewing paradigm to investigate whether women with sexual dysfunction visually attend to the genital area in dynamic sexual stimuli (i.e., erotic videos) differently than women with subclinical sexual function or those with normal sexual functioning. A total of 69 women (Mage = 27.77, SD = 8.00) with clinical (n = 30), subclinical (n = 23), and normal (n = 16) levels of sexual functioning watched four 1-min video clips depicting heterosexual couples engaging in vaginal intercourse or cunnilingus while the total fixation duration on the genital area as well as their subjective and genital sexual arousal were recorded. As hypothesized, the clinical group fixated on the genital area less than women with normal sexual functioning. A longer total fixation duration on the genital area was followed by increases in subjective arousal and genital arousal. The relationship between attention and arousal was not moderated by sexual functioning group. This study provides first evidence of the role of sustained visual attention for facilitating sexual arousal in women with and without sexual dysfunction.

Stimulus Preference and Mental Imagery: Influencing the Way Sexual Stimuli are Viewed and the Intensity of Subjective Sexual Arousal

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Boccone
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Arousal ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Imagery Ability ◽  
Stimulus Preference ◽  
Sexual Stimuli ◽  
Sex Research ◽  
Sexual Stimulation ◽  
Subjective Sexual Arousal ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Preferred Stimulus

Background: The connection between mental imagery and feelings of presence within a film has not yet been investigated in sex research in relation to observational stance (imagining oneself as either a spectator or participant while viewing a film). Several studies have shown that people who take a participant stance when viewing a sexual film are more likely to report greater subjective sexual arousal (SSA). Research on observational stance has also found that viewing a preferred stimulus is predictive of taking a participant stance. Despite this, very few studies have allowed participants to select their own stimuli. Methodology: Sexual films that were researcher-selected or participant-selected will be presented to women and men, while continuously measuring their SSA. Information will be collected about observational stance and vividness of mental imagery via questionnaires. Expected Results: 1. Greater mental imagery ability will be associated with adopting a participant stance. 2. The relationship between mental imagery ability and taking a participant stance will be stronger for participant-selected sexual stimuli than for researcher-selected sexual stimuli. 3. Taking a participant stance will be associated with greater SSA. 4. The relationship between taking a participant stance and SSA will be stronger for participant-selected sexual stimuli than for researcher-selected stimuli. Conclusions: This project is the first to examine the relationship between mental imagery and observational stance for sexual stimuli, and is among the first to allow participants to self-select stimuli. Results of this project will encourage the development of standardized procedures for providing participants with optimal sexual stimulation.

Hemodynamic brain response to visual sexual stimuli is different between homosexual and heterosexual men

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 930-930
Author(s):  
S.-H. Hu ◽  
Q.-D. Wang ◽  
Y. Xu ◽  
M.-M. Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Homosexual Men ◽  
Subjective Response ◽  
Brain Response ◽  
Sexual Stimuli ◽  
Subjective Sexual Arousal ◽  
Cognitive Pattern ◽  
Sexual Disgust ◽  
Lesbian Couple ◽  
Visual Sexual Stimuli

Many studies showed the differences in subjective response to sexual stimuli between heterosexual and homosexual men. However, the underlying neurobiological factors of sexual orientation are largely unknown. We addressed the question what is the major attribution of the expected differences in brain activation, i.e. neural circuits or different cognitive process. Twenty-eight healthy male volunteers, 14 heterosexuals and 14 homosexuals, were scanned by functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging while subjects were viewing different types of stimuli, i.e. heterosexual couple stimuli (HCS), gay couple stimuli (GCS), lesbian couple stimuli (LCS) and neutral stimuli (NS). SPM02 was used for data analysis. Rating of sexual attractiveness was assessed. Subjective sexual arousal was induced by HCS and GCS in heterosexual and homosexual men, respectively. And sexual disgust was induced by GCS and LCS in heterosexual and homosexual men, respectively. As compared to viewing NS, viewing sexual stimuli induced significant different brain activations most of which had characteristic for cognitive process. These observations suggested that different cognitive pattern was major attribution of different subjective response to sexual stimuli between heterosexual and homosexual men.

scholarly journals Procedure to validate sexual stimuli: reliability and validity of a set of sexual stimuli in a sample of young colombian heterosexual males.

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-24
Author(s):  
Pablo Vallejo-Medina ◽  
Franklin Soler ◽  
Mayra Gómez-Lugo ◽  
Alejandro Saavedra-Roa ◽  
Laurent Marchal-Bertrand
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Arousal ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Heterosexual Men ◽  
Young Population ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Sexual Stimuli ◽  
Phallometric Assessment ◽  
Subjective Sexual Arousal ◽  
Peripheral Temperature

Penile plethysmography – or phallometric assessment – is a very relevant evaluation for sexual health. The objective of this research is to suggest a guideline to validate sexual stimuli and validate a set of sexual stimuli in young heterosexual men. Six videos of 3:15 minute-long were used. A total of 24 men were assessed. Objective sexual arousal, rapid change of peripheral temperature, pulse, the International Index of Erectile Function-5, Self-Assessment Manikin, Multidimensional Scale to Assess Subjective Sexual Arousal and socio-psycho-sexual questions were used. The results showed three sexual excerpts which were clearly superior to the others – something discordant with the subjective opinion of researchers. These three sexual excerpts generated internally consistent measurements; moreover, good indicators of external validity have been observed with statistically significant differences as expected. Furthermore, with healthy young population, it has been shown that the three stimuli produce objective sexual arousal if used together.

scholarly journals Accurate sex classification from neural responses to sexual stimuli

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vesa Juhani Putkinen ◽  
Sanaz Nazari-Farsani ◽  
Tomi Karjalainen ◽  
Severi Santavirta ◽  
Matthew Hudson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Sexual Stimuli ◽  
Dorsal Attention Network ◽  
Film Clips ◽  
Attentional Engagement ◽  
Visual Sexual Stimuli ◽  
Multivariate Pattern

Sex differences in brain activity evoked by sexual stimuli remain elusive despite robust evidence for stronger enjoyment of and interest towards sexual stimuli in men than in women. To test whether visual sexual stimuli evoke different brain activity patterns in men and women, we measured haemodynamic brain activity induced by visual sexual stimuli in two experiments in 91 subjects (46 males). In one experiment, the subjects viewed sexual and non-sexual film clips and dynamic annotations for nudity in the clips was used to predict their hemodynamic activity. In the second experiment, the subjects viewed sexual and non-sexual pictures in an event-related design. Males showed stronger activation than females in the visual and prefrontal cortices and dorsal attention network in both experiments. Furthermore, using multivariate pattern classification we could accurately predict the sex of the subject on the basis of the brain activity elicited by the sexual stimuli. The classification generalized across the experiments indicating that the sex differences were consistent across the experiments. Eye tracking data obtained from an independent sample of subjects (N = 110) showed that men looked longer than women at the chest area of the nude female actors in the film clips. These results indicate that visual sexual stimuli evoke discernible brain activity patterns in men and women which may reflect stronger attentional engagement with sexual stimuli in men than women.

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