Dissociation of sexual arousal and sexual proclivity in the garden snail, Helix aspersa

Sexual arousal (intensity of courtship) and sexual proclivity (tendency to court) in Helix aspersa can be reliably measured using externally observable correlates. Snails with sexual proclivity are significantly more likely to turn toward an anesthetized conspecific after contacting it than are sexually unreceptive snails. Sexual arousal can be inferred from the stage of a snail's genital eversion, which appears only during courtship. The higher the stage of the eversion, the shorter the time required to complete introductory courtship behavior and the higher the rate of successful copulation, the fewer the number of breaks and pauses during courtship, and the longer the time a snail will spend in contact with an anesthetized conspecific. Sexual proclivity has no effect on feeding or locomotory behavior; however, sexual arousal inhibits feeding and increases locomotor activity. Snails that were allowed daily contact with conspecifics required less time to complete introductory courtship behavior relative to snails that were isolated from conspecifics for 1 week. This suggests that daily contact increases sexual arousal. A greater percentage of isolated snails exhibited courtship behavior than did snails which had experienced daily conspecific contact. This suggests that isolation increases sexual proclivity. These differences indicate that sexual arousal is not merely due to an increase in sexual proclivity.     

"Central arousal" and sexual responsiveness in the snail, Helix aspersa

In molluscs, a "central arousal" system is thought to positively modulate both an animal's level of activity and its behavioral responsiveness. This hypothesis is examined in Helix aspersa by testing the relationships between activity, feeding, and sexual behavior. Activity, feeding, and mating exhibit parallel daily rhythms. Snails are most active, and eat and mate most frequently, during scotophase and the first 3 h of photophase. Handling and injections of serotonin (5 x 10(-7) m/kg body wt) increase general activity. Inducing activity during late photophase increases food consumption, but it does not induce sexual activity. Moreover, serotonin and handling have no effect on sexual arousal; treated snails show no increase in genital eversion stage and require the same length of courtship as controls. If snails are sexually deprived, increasing activity in late photophase does increase copulation frequency, but snails do not copulate more frequently than do unhandled snails tested during early photophase. These results suggest that while manipulations thought to increase central arousal do increase activity and responsiveness to food stimuli, they do not directly affect sexual proclivity or sexual arousal. Moreover, the relationship between feeding and sexual behavior differs between Helix and Aplysia. This difference between the two species may be related to the differences in their reproductive strategies.     

Sexual arousal patterns of bisexual men

There has long been controversy about whether bisexual men are substantially sexually aroused by both sexes. We investigated genital and self-reported sexual arousal to male and female sexual stimuli in 30 heterosexual, 33 bisexual, and 38 homosexual men. In general, bisexual men did not have strong genital arousal to both male and female sexual stimuli. Rather, most bisexual men appeared homosexual with respect to genital arousal, although some appeared heterosexual. In contrast, their subjective sexual arousal did conform to a bisexual pattern. Male bisexuality appears primarily to represent a style of interpreting or reporting sexual arousal rather than a distinct pattern of genital sexual arousal.     

Pain sensitivity and individual differences in self-reported sexual behavior

The relationship between sexual behavior and pain sensitivity was assessed in 27 heterosexual men and 20 heterosexual women. Sexual behavior measures included sexual motivation and ratings of subjective sexual arousal to and enjoyment of an auditory stimulus. Pain sensitivity measures were pain threshold and pain tolerance in a cold pressor task. Participants were tested after exposure to a neutral or a sexual audio stimulus. Exposure to the sexual stimulus increased pain sensitivity in women but not in men. However, sexual behavior measures were correlated with pain threshold for both men and women. Specifically, higher pain thresholds were associated with weaker sexual motivation, lower enjoyment potential for sexual interaction, and increased inhibition during intercourse. These results are consistent with findings in laboratory animals, suggesting that differences in sexual behavior may reflect differences in responsiveness to a variety of stimuli.     

Effects of food and mates on time budget in Aplysia fasciata: integration of feeding, reproduction, and locomotion

This study examines the time budgeted to different behaviors in Aplysia fasciata under three conditions: (1) animals have constant access to food and mates: (2) there is access to food, but not to mates; (3) neither food nor mates are present. The data suggest a number of rules underlying behavioral integration: (1) Feeding, reproductive behaviors, and activity seem to be natural categories for behavioral choice. Feeding and reproductive behaviors are controlled in tandem by a common arousal mechanism, while time left over after animals feed and reproduce is distributed in a fixed ratio between locomotion (crawling and swimming) and inactivity (immobility and movement in place). (2) Relative distribution between different forms of locomotion and inactivity is modified by changes in motivational state. More time is spent swimming than crawling when feeding and/or mating is prevented, while more time is spent moving in place than immobile when the arousal level is increased. (3) Feedback control of feeding and reproduction is asymmetric. Satiation of feeding inhibits the common arousal. In the absence of food, time spent on reproductive behaviors increases due to disinhibition of the common arousal. By contrast, positive feedback arising from sexual behavior excites the common arousal. When mating is prevented by removing potential mates, time spent feeding decreases. (4) Generally, animals choose between performing the three main categories of behavior. Although Aplysia simultaneously can feed and mate, or locomote and mate, they do so infrequently. By contrast, different types of reproductive behaviors (male mating, female mating, egg-laying) are commonly performed simultaneously.     

A sex difference in the specificity of sexual arousal

Sexual arousal is category-specific in men; heterosexual men are more aroused by female than by male sexual stimuli, whereas homosexual men show the opposite pattern. There is reason to believe that female sexual arousal is organized differently. We assessed genital and subjective sexual arousal to male and female sexual stimuli in women, men, and postoperative male-to-female transsexuals. In contrast to men, women showed little category specificity on either the genital or the subjective measure. Both heterosexual and homosexual women experienced strong genital arousal to both male and female sexual stimuli. Transsexuals showed a category-specific pattern, demonstrating that category specificity can be detected in the neovagina using a photoplethysmographic measure of female genital sexual arousal. In a second study, we showed that our results for females are unlikely to be explained by ascertainment biases. These findings suggest that sexual arousal patterns play fundamentally different roles in male and female sexuality.     

The interaction of state and trait aspects of self-focused attention affects genital, but not subjective, sexual arousal in sexually functional women

In this study we investigated the effects of state and trait aspects of self-focused attention on genital and subjective sexual arousal of sexually functional, healthy women during presentation of audiovisual erotic stimuli. Psychophysiological sexual response was measured as vaginal pulse amplitude using a vaginal photoplethysmograph. Experiential aspects of sexual arousal were measured both during stimulus presentation and retrospectively after stimulus offset. Trait level of sexual self-focus was measured with the Sexual Self-Consciousness Scale. State self-focus was induced by switching on a TV camera that pointed at the participant's face and upper torso. A manipulation check revealed that both groups experienced equally elevated levels of self-focused attention of their physical appearance. Induction of state self-focus per se did not affect genital responses, but an interaction effect of self-focus and participants' level of trait sexual self-focus was revealed. Compared with women with low scores on this trait, women with high scores exhibited smaller genital responses when state self-focus was induced. Both groups did not differ when no self-focus was induced. Increase of state self-focus did not affect subjective sexual arousal, but participants with a high level of trait sexual self-focus reported stronger subjective arousal, compared with those with low trait level. The results were discussed with reference to previous work in this field. Some implications for treatment of sexual arousal disorder were discussed.     

THE EFFECTS OF SEXUALLY VIOLENT ROCK MUSIC ON MALES'ACCEPTANCE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

The effects of sexually violent music on undergraduate males'( N = 75) attitudes toward women, acceptance of violence against women, and self-reported sexual arousal were evaluated. The experimental manipulation involved exposure to sexually violent heavy-metal rock music, Christian heavy-metal rock music, or easy-listening classical music. One month before the experimental manipulation, participants were administered two covariate measures (religious orientation and sex-role orientation); the Attitudes toward Women Scale; the Sex-Role Stereotyping, Adversarial Sexual Beliefs, Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence, and Rape Myth Acceptance subscales from the Sexual Attitudes Survey; and a sexual arousal index. The results indicated that males with an extrinsic religious orientation were more accepting of sexist and rape-supportive beliefs. Exposure to heavy-metal rock music, irrespective of lyrical content, increased males sex-role stereotyping and negative attitudes toward women. An unexpected finding was grearer self-reported sexual arousal in response to classical music. Results are discussed with respect to participant and stimulus characteristics and experimenters'gender.     

Instructional Orientation,Self-attention,and Responses to Erotica Among Persons High in Sex Guilt

In previous research, persons high in sex guilt reported being less aroused by erotica than persons low in sex guilt, when self-attention was enhanced. That finding is interpretable in either of two ways: (a) self-focus led to suppression of the arousal response among those subjects, or (b) self-focus led to denial of experienced arousal among those subjects. The present study tested the denial interpretation, based on the following assumption. If the context does not lead arousal to be labeled as sexual in nature, any arousal experienced should not be threatening to persons high in sex guilt, and denial should not occur. Subjects high in sex guilt were exposed to sexually arousing visual Stimuli under one of two instructional orientations. They were led to assess either (a) the sexual arousal, or (b) the undifferentiated arousal, which they experienced in response to the stimuli. As expected, self-attention led to reports of less intense arousal only when the arousal had been labeled as sexual in nature.     

Motivational control of sexual behavior in Aplysia fasciata: sequencing and modulation by sexual deprivation and by addition of partners

Variables similar to those affecting feeding behavior also modulate sexual behavior in Aplysia fasciata, indicating that mating is under motivational control. Motivated behaviors are often patterned into appetitive and consummatory components. Courtship, the appetitive phase of male sexual behavior, was temporally related to subsequent mating. Although many bouts of courtship failed to lead to mating, most incidents of mating were preceded by courtship. Motivation is also characterized by satiation after the goal of the behavior is achieved. We found an increase in likelihood to mate following a period of sexual isolation. Motivated behaviors are also modulated by environmental stimuli that induce arousal. Time spent mating was found to be a function of the number of potential mates accessible for mating. Number of A. fascinata participating in a mating group was also found to be a function of number of potential mates available.     

Attitudes toward sex, arousal, and the retention of contraceptive information

Previous research has suggested that women with a negative emotional orientation toward sexuality (i.e., erotophobia) have difficulty learning and retaining sexually relevant material such as contraceptive information. It has been hypothesized that these women become aroused by this material and that this arousal interferes with their ability to learn it. The importance of this issue led us to conduct the current study. Erotophobic and erotophilic women viewed presentations about contraception while their physiological responses were being monitored. In addition, they were tested on the information contained in the presentation before, immediately after, and again 4-6 weeks after the presentation. The results indicated that the erotophobic women knew less contraceptive information before the presentation and were more aroused by the presentation. This arousal, however, did not interfere with retention of the material. These results are discussed in terms of individual differences in reactions to sexual material and the ability to learn, retain, and use contraceptive information.     

Neural correlates of subliminally presented visual sexual stimuli

In the context of forensic psychiatry, it is crucial that diagnoses of deviant sexual interests are resistant to manipulation. In a first attempt to promote the development of such tools, the current fMRI study focusses on the examination of hemodynamic responses to preferred, in contrast to non-preferred, sexual stimuli with and without explicit sexual features in 24 healthy heterosexual subjects. The subliminal stimulus presentation of sexual stimuli could be a new approach to reduce vulnerability to manipulation. Meaningful images and scrambled images were applied as masks. Recognition performance was low, but interestingly, sexual preference and explicitness modulated stimulus visibility, suggesting interactions between networks of sexual arousal and consciousness. With scrambled masks, higher activations for sexually preferred images and for explicit images were found in areas associated with sexual arousal (Stoleru, Fonteille, Cornelis, Joyal, & Moulier, 2012). We conclude that masked sexual stimuli can evoke activations in areas associated with supraliminal induced sexual arousal.     

Alcohol, sexual arousal, and intentions to use condoms in young men: applying alcohol myopia theory to risky sexual behavior.

Data from 7 studies were aggregated to examine how reported sexual arousal and alcohol intoxication interact to affect attitudes and intentions toward engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse in college-age men (N = 358). When participants were in a sober or placebo condition, their self-reports of sexual arousal had no effect on their responses. When participants were intoxicated, however, those who felt sexually aroused reported more favorable attitudes, thoughts, and intentions toward having unprotected sex than did those who did not feel aroused. These findings support alcohol myopia theory (C. M. Steele & R. A. Josephs, 1990), which states that alcohol intoxication restricts attentional capacity so that people are highly influenced by the most salient cues in their environment. It is suggested that sexual arousal is a powerful internal cue that interacts with alcohol intoxication to enhance attitudes and intentions toward risky sexual behaviors.     

Sexual Arousal and the Polarization of Perceived Sexual Attractiveness

It was predicted that sexual arousal would lead to polarized evaluations of the sexual attractiveness and desirability of those of the opposite sex. More specifically, sexual arousal was hypothesized to enhance the perceived sexual attractiveness of medium and highly attractive target persons but to decrease the perceived sexual attractiveness of unattractive target persons. Sexually aroused and nonaroused subject's of both sexes rated the sexual attractiveness, dating desirability, and marriage desirability of low, medium, and high attractive people of the opposite sex. As expected, sexually aroused subjects rated medium and high attractive targets as more sexually attractive but low attractive targets as less sexually attractive than did nonaroused subjects. The findings were interpreted as consistent with a two process evaluative polarization hypothesis but also discussed in terms of arousal misattribution and arousal transfer hypotheses.     

Facilitating sexual arousal via anger,aggression, or dominance

The hypothesis that either an angry emotional state or the expression of aggressive behavior facilitates sexual arousal has been the subject of considerable speculation but relatively little research. In a series of studies, Barclay found that anger increased sexual arousal as measured by the amount of sexual imagery produced in response to TAT-like stimuli that depicted males and females in dominant and submissive roles. In the present research, a series of experiments was conducted to determine whether such facilitation can be generalized beyond the specific procedures used by Barclay. Subjects (151 males and 136 females) in three experiments were angered by being negatively evaluated by a confederate identified as a fellow subject. Some subjects were subsequently given an opportunity to aggress; additionally, some subjects were exposed to male- and female-dominant pictorial stimuli. Results indicated that neither anger instigation nor the opportunity to engage in aggressive acts influenced self-reported sexual arousal. There was consistent evidence, however, that portrayals of dominance influenced perceptions of the stimulus person's sexuality. Though anger and aggression do not seem to facilitate sexual arousal, dominance cues (which can be confounded with anger manipulation) clearly elicit perceptions of sexuality.     

Assessment of sexual preference using a choice reaction time task

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of a choice reaction time task, during which slides of sexually explicit and neutral stimuli were used as an interference task, to differentiate between groups of individuals on the basis of their sexual preference. Twenty subjects, in each of the four groups (heterosexual males, heterosexual females, homosexual males, and homosexual females), participated in this study. Sexual orientation was determined by self-report. Subjects were given a choice reaction time with interference task, followed by a recall incidental learning task. A significant higher-order interaction was found among gender, orientation, and stimulus type for all four groups. This interaction indicated a longer reaction time to slides depicting preferred sexual partners than to nonpreferred sexual partners or neutral scenes. These results indicate that sexual arousal does interfere with cognitive processing. A main effect for gender was found for the incidental learning task, with males having the fewest errors.     

A new model for sexual conditioning: the ring dove (Streptopelia risoria)

Sexual conditioning investigations have primarily used rats and domestic quail as subjects. Although much has been learned from such experiments, the relative simplicity of rat and quail reproductive behavior prohibits investigation of certain experimental questions about sexual conditioning. In contrast, the reproductive behavior of male and female ring doves (Streptopelia risoria) is complex, involving courtship, bonding, and parental care. In the present experiment, male ring doves that were presented with a visual conditioned stimulus paired with access to their pair-bonded mate (the unconditioned stimulus) showed sexual conditioned responding in the presence of the conditioned stimulus. These results represent the first evidence of sexual conditioning in ring doves and illustrate the potential of ring doves as a useful model for future sexual conditioning investigations.     

Changes in the magnitude of the eyeblink startle response during habituation of sexual arousal

Modulation of the startle response was used to examine emotional processing of sexual stimulation across trials within a session. Eyeblink startle was elicited by a probe (burst of intense white noise) presented intermittently while men were viewing an erotic film segment. Repeated display of the film segment resulted in a progressive decrease in sexual arousal. Habituation of sexual arousal was accompanied by a reduction over trials in the extent the men felt absorbed when viewing the erotic stimulus and by an increase over trials in the magnitude of the eyeblink startle response. Replacing the familiar stimulus by a novel erotic stimulus increased in sexual arousal and absorption and reduced startle (novelty effect), while dishabituation was evident for all three response measures when the familiar stimulus was reintroduced. This pattern of results indicates that with repeated presentation an erotic stimulus is experienced not only as less sexually arousing but also as less appetitive and absorbing. The question of whether habituation of sexual arousal is mediated by changes in attentional and affective processing over trials is discussed, as are clinical contexts in which eyeblink startle can be used in studying aspects of sexual functioning.     

Effects of emotional state on sexual desire and sexual dysfunction

The present study explored effects of emotional states on sexual desire and dysfunction. Three basic emotion dimensions, pleasure-displeasure, arousal-nonarousal, and dominance-submissiveness, served as the independent factors. Factor analysis of a sexual desire and problems questionnaire yielded a single factor with sexual desire as one pole and sexual problems as the opposite pole. The resulting sexual desire scale had a KR-20 reliability coefficient of .98 and constituted a highly homogeneous dependent measure. Sexual desire was greater when subjects felt pleasure rather than displeasure, unaroused rather than aroused, and dominant rather than submissive. Desire increased with increasing arousal in pleasant states and decreased with increasing arousal in unpleasant states (Pleasure × Arousal interaction). Desire increased with increasing dominance in pleasant states and decreased with increasing dominance in unpleasant states (Pleasure × Dominance interaction). In unaroused states, submissiveness attenuated the polarization of sexual desire as a function of pleasure-displeasure (Pleasure × Arousal × Dominance interaction). The highest levels of sexual desire and freedom from sexual problems were associated with pleasant and dominant feelings (e.g., admired and vigorous or relaxed and leisurely); the lowest levels were reported for unpleasant and aroused feelings (e.g., hostile and hateful or pained and embarrassed). Except for the uniformly greater sexual desire of males than of females across all conditions, all findings were applicable equally to the two sexes.