Sex differences in concordance rates between auditory event-related potentials and subjective sexual arousal

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2016

Publication Title

Psychophysiology

Volume

53

Issue

8

First page number:

1272

Last page number:

1281

Abstract

Much research indicates men show a greater concordance between subjective and genital sexual arousal than do women. We investigated the relationship between subjective sexual arousal and brain activation in men and women. Subjective sexual arousal and auditory N1 and P3b ERP amplitudes were measured while 38 participants viewed erotic and non-erotic films. Most notably, there was a significant correlation between N1 amplitude and sexual arousal in men; for women, there was a significant correlation between the P3b amplitude and sexual arousal. ERP amplitudes were inversely associated with reported arousal, suggesting that sexual arousal interferes with early tone processing for men, and with later tone processing for women. Lastly, for women, pornography/erotica consumption was negatively correlated with P3b amplitudes, suggesting that women who consume more pornography/erotica may also show greater attention to erotic films. © 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research

Keywords

ERPs; Gender; N1; P3; Sexual arousal

Language

English

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