Effects of Depressive Symptoms and Experimentally Adopted Schemas on Sexual Arousal and Affect in Sexually Healthy Women

The present study examined the effects of depressive mood symptoms and experimentally adopted sexual schemas on women's sexual arousal and affect. Women's vaginal response, subjective sexual arousal, and affect were measured in response to sexually explicit visual material in a laboratory setting. At baseline on a self-report measure, women with depressive mood symptoms (n = 28) reported significantly lower sexual desire than women with normal mood (n=28), but no significant differences in arousal, orgasm, satisfaction, or pain. Participants were asked to adopt both a positive and negative sexual self-schema prior to viewing erotic stimuli. Women in both mood groups demonstrated significantly greater subjective sexual arousal, vaginal response, and positive affect in the positive schema condition than in the negative schema condition when controlling for anxiety. There were no main effects for mood symptoms. These findings support an information processing conceptualization of sexual arousal and suggest that an acute dose of cognitive sexual schemas can significantly impact subsequent sexual and affective responses. Implications of findings for the assessment and treatment of sexual dysfunction are noted.     

The Effects of Autobiographic Sexual Memory Recall on the Sexual Response of Sexually Functional Men

In this experimental study, we investigated how recalling positive, negative, and affectively neutral autobiographic sexual experiences in their personal history affected the current sexual response of sexually functional male volunteers. Based on an attentional-capacity account of sexual arousal, we predicted that affectively charged autobiographic sexual memory recall, both with negative and positive valence, would negatively impact genital arousal, compared to recalling affectively neutral sexual experiences. We expected that subjective sexual arousal would not be differentially affected by emotional memory valence. We measured subjective and genital response to erotic video fragments in sexually functional volunteers (N = 24) in a within-subjects, repeated-measures design. For the memory manipulation, participants received instructions to visualize and mentally re-experience positive, negative, and neutral sexual episodes from autobiographic memory. Memory instructions were found to result in the expected affective states. As predicted, compared to recalling neutral memory, mean genital response was significantly lower during recalling positive and negative memory. However, contrary to prediction, subjective sexual arousal was affected, when multilevel analysis was performed, including a time effect. The implications of the findings were discussed with respect to the advancement of theory and therapeutic intervention.     

Ambivalent Affect and Sexual Response: The Impact of Co-Occurring Positive and Negative Emotions on Subjective and Physiological Sexual Responses to Erotic Stimuli

This study aimed to clarify the role of positive, negative, and ambivalent (i.e., co-occurring positive and negative) affect in predicting subjective sexual arousal, sexual desire, and genital response. A total of 26 women and 19 men observed three erotic film excerpts and a film excerpt depicting a coercive sexual encounter. Genital responses were recorded throughout the study, and participants rated their mood and subjective sexual arousal and desire following each excerpt. Results showed that positive affect was strongly and positively related to subjective sexual response. Although negative affect was generally a poor predictor of subjective sexual arousal, for women, it was positively associated with genital response in some conditions. Ambivalent affect was consistently associated with relatively high levels of subjective sexual arousal and desire. Results point to the importance of recognizing the role of ambivalent or mixed emotional states when evaluating the relationship between affect and sexual response.     

The Effects of False Positive and False Negative Physiological Feedback on Sexual Arousal: A Comparison of Women with or without Sexual Arousal Disorder

The effects of false positive and false negative physiological feedback (vaginal photoplethymograph response print-out) on women's sexual arousal were examined. Participants included women without sexual dysfunction (n=16) and women with Sexual Arousal Disorder (SAD; n=15). Measures of subjective sexual arousal, physiological sexual arousal (vaginal pulse amplitude), expectancies, affect, and anxiety were obtained in response to viewing an erotic film. Results indicated that false positive feedback significantly increased subjective levels of sexual arousal, whereas false negative feedback significantly decreased subjective levels of sexual arousal in both groups. Sexually functional women had overall higher expectancies for sexual arousal than women with SAD. Unexpectedly, false positive feedback did not significantly impact physiological sexual arousal in sexually functional women; however, it resulted in significantly decreased responses in physiological sexual arousal in women with SAD. False negative feedback had no significant effect on physiological sexual response in sexually functional women or women with SAD.     

Effects of Experimentally Adopted Sexual Schemas on Vaginal Response and Subjective Sexual Arousal: A Comparison Between Women with Sexual Arousal Disorder and Sexually Healthy Women

The present study evaluated and compared the effects of experimentally adopted sexual schemas on vaginal response, subjective sexual arousal, and affect in 17 women with Female Sexual Arousal Disorder (FSAD) and 17 sexually healthy women. Positive and negative cognitive schemas were presented to participants before viewing sexually explicit video segments. They were asked to temporarily adopt both schemas, and vaginal response, subjective sexual arousal, and affect were measured in each schema condition. Participants in both groups had significantly greater vaginal response and reported more subjective sexual arousal in the positive schema condition than in the negative schema condition. Sexually healthy women demonstrated significantly higher subjective sexual arousal than women with FSAD, but there were no significant group differences in vaginal response. Moreover, participants in both groups reported higher levels of Positive Affect and Vigor in the positive schema condition than in the negative schema condition but higher levels of Negative Affect, Tension-Anxiety, and Anger-Hostility in the negative schema condition than in the positive schema condition. These findings demonstrate the impact of cognitions on sexual arousal, which has important implications for addressing cognitions in the treatment of FSAD. Moreover, these findings have implications for the conceptualization of FSAD, which may be best characterized as a complex, heterogeneous cluster of symptoms.

Physiological and Subjective Sexual Arousal in Self-Identified Asexual Women

Asexuality can be defined as a lifelong lack of sexual attraction. Empirical research on asexuality reveals significantly lower self-reported sexual desire and arousal and lower rates of sexual activity; however, the speculation that there may also be an impaired psychophysiological sexual arousal response has never been tested. The aim of this study was to compare genital (vaginal pulse amplitude; VPA) and subjective sexual arousal in asexual and non-asexual women. Thirty-eight women between the ages of 19 and 55 years (10 heterosexual, 10 bisexual, 11 homosexual, and 7 asexual) viewed neutral and erotic audiovisual stimuli while VPA and self-reported sexual arousal and affect were measured. There were no significant group differences in the increased VPA and self-reported sexual arousal response to the erotic film between the groups. Asexuals showed significantly less positive affect, sensuality-sexual attraction, and self-reported autonomic arousal to the erotic film compared to the other groups; however, there were no group differences in negative affect or anxiety. Genital-subjective sexual arousal concordance was significantly positive for the asexual women and non-significant for the other three groups, suggesting higher levels of interoceptive awareness among asexuals. Taken together, the findings suggest normal subjective and physiological sexual arousal capacity in asexual women and challenge the view that asexuality should be characterized as a sexual dysfunction.     

Effects of Sexual Arousal on Genital and Non-Genital Sensation: A Comparison of Women with Vulvar Vestibulitis Syndrome and Healthy Controls

The relationship between sexual arousal and sensory perception has been a topic largely neglected within the realm of human sexuality research. The present study assessed the influence of sexual arousal on genital and non-genital sensation in women. It also examined the theory that painful intercourse is associated with insufficient sexual arousal. A total of 20 healthy women and 20 women with Vulvar Vestibulitis Syndrome (VVS) underwent genital and non-genital sensory testing at baseline and in response to erotic and neutral stimulus films. Touch and pain thresholds were assessed at the vulvar vestibule, inside the labia minora, and on the volar surface of the forearm. Sexual arousal was assessed via the measurement of surface skin temperature changes of the labia minora using a labial thermistor clip. Participants also completed questionnaires pertaining to mood, pain, and sexual functioning. In response to the erotic stimulus, both groups evidenced a significant increase in physiological sexual arousal and vulvar sensitivity. Women with VVS reported a significantly lower desire to engage in intercourse after having viewed the erotic film and reported lower levels of desire and arousal on questionnaire measures. Women with VVS also exhibited significantly more genital and non-genital pain sensitivity than healthy women across all conditions, in addition to more catastrophizing, hypervigilance, and fear of pain. Contrary to some theories, these data suggest that women with VVS are not lacking in physiological sexual arousal, and that physiological sexual arousal may actually increase vulvar sensation. Lack of subjective sexual arousal, however, may yet be implicated in vulvar pain during intercourse.     

Sexual Thoughts: Links to Testosterone and Cortisol in Men

Sexual stimuli increase testosterone (T) or cortisol (C) in males of a variety of species, including humans, and just thinking about sex increases T in women. We investigated whether sexual thoughts change T or C in men and whether hormone measures (baseline, post-activity, and changes) correlate with psychological sexual arousal. We used the Imagined Social Situation Exercise to assess how hormones respond to and correlate with sexual thoughts and arousal relative to three control conditions: neutral, stressful, and positive. A total of 99 men provided a baseline saliva sample, imagined and wrote about a sexual or control situation, and provided a second saliva sample 15 min later. Results indicated that, for participants in the sexual condition, higher baseline and post-activity C corresponded to larger increases in self- reported sexual and autonomic arousal. Although sexual thoughts increased sexual arousal, they did not change T or C compared to control conditions. Our results suggest that sexual thoughts are not sufficient to change T or C in men, but C may facilitate sexual arousal by directing energy towards a sexual situation.     

Depressed affect and male sexual arousal

We investigated the effects of elated and depressed affect on sexual arousal in 15 sexually functional males. Subjects received elation and depression mood inductions in a repeated-measures design. Immediately following each induction, subjects viewed a brief erotic film during which penile tumescence and subjective sexual arousal were recorded continuously. Following depression induction there was a trend toward diminished subjective sexual arousal in the early portion of erotic exposure, and achievement of maximum subjective arousal was delayed; however, penile tumescence was unaffected. Multiple regression analysis indicated that tumescence during erotica was predictive of posterotica affect, independent of pre-erotica affect. The findings of delayed subjective arousal with no diminution in tumescence, although contrary to predictions, are consistent with previous research with sexually dysfunctional men. The study provides partial support for the role of depressed affect in the etiology of erectile dysfunction.This research was supported by a grant from Syracuse University (#24).     

An Evaluation of the Validity of Thermography as a Physiological Measure of Sexual Arousal in a Non-University Adult Sample

Thermography is a promising technology for the physiological measurement of sexual arousal in both men and women. This study was designed to extend our previous college student thermography study findings to an older sample (M age = 37.05 years), add an anxiety control group to further examine the specificity of temperature change, and examine the relationship between genital temperature and a continuous measure of subjective sexual arousal. Healthy men (n = 40) and women (n = 39) viewed a neutral film clip after which they were randomly assigned to view one of four other videos: neutral (n = 20), humor (n = 19), anxiety provoking (n = 20) or sexually explicit (n = 20). Genital and thigh temperature were continuously recorded using a TSA ImagIR thermographic camera. Continuous and discrete reports of subjective sexual arousal were also obtained. Results supported the validity of thermography as a measure of sexual arousal: temperature change was specific to the genitals during the sexual arousal condition and was significantly correlated with subjective continuous and discrete reports of sexual arousal. Further development should assess the potential of thermography as a tool for the diagnosis and treatment evaluation of sexual arousal difficulties and for studying sex differences.     

Happy eating: The Single Target Implicit Association Test predicts overeating after positive emotions

For many years, questionnaires have been considered the standard when examining emotional eating behavior. However, recently, some controversy has arisen about these questionnaires, and their usefulness in identifying emotional eaters has been questioned. The current study aimed to investigate the Single Target Implicit Association Test (ST-IAT) as a measure of emotional eating. Two ST-IATs (assessing food-positive and food-negative associations respectively) and the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ) were compared in undergraduate students. A positive, negative or neutral mood was induced by means of a film clip, and milkshake consumption was measured during and after the mood induction. It was hypothesized that participants with strong emotion–food associations on the ST-IATs (i.e., IAT-emotional eaters) would consume more food in the emotion induction condition corresponding to that emotion, as compared to those with weak emotion–food associations as well as to those in the neutral condition. Participants who scored high on both the positive and negative ST-IATs ate more during a positive mood induction than during a negative mood induction. This effect did not extend to milkshake consumption after the mood induction procedure. In addition, IAT-positive emotional eaters consumed more food than IAT-non-emotional eaters. No effects of the DEBQ on milkshake consumption were found. It is concluded that the ST-IAT has potential as a measure of emotional eating.     

Does negative mood drive the urge to eat? The contribution of negative mood, exposure to food cues and eating style

The current study investigated whether negative mood alone, or in conjunction with exposure to food cues, influences the urge to eat. Female participants (N=160) were allocated to either a negative or neutral mood induction procedure followed by exposure to either a preferred food cue or a non-food cue. Participants reported their urge to eat at baseline, following the mood induction procedure, and following the cue exposure, as well as completing measures of restrained and disinhibited eating. Contrary to prediction, urge to eat decreased following the mood induction procedure for those in the negative mood condition. This was not influenced by eating style (i.e., restrained or disinhibited eaters). Urge to eat subsequently increased following exposure to the food, but not the non-food, cue. This effect was moderated by negative mood and eating style with disinhibited eating being positively associated with urge to eat for those women in the negative mood condition. These findings suggest that negative mood plays a role in the tendency to overeat, but only in the context of personally desirable food cues and for a subgroup of women with a history of disinhibited eating.     

Convergent and discriminant validity of clitoral color Doppler ultrasonography as a measure of female sexual arousal

We examined the convergent and discriminant validity of clitoral ultrasonography as a measure of female sexual arousal by assessing the following: (a) its ability to discriminate between sexual and other forms of arousal; and (b) its correlation with subjective ratings of arousal. Results from 63 healthy premenopausal women indicate that ultrasonography was not successful in differentiating sexual arousal from a humor control condition. Furthermore, there were no significant correlations between clitoral blood-flow measures and subjective sexual arousal. Additional research is required to establish the specificity of ultrasonography as a measure of sexual arousal.     

Effects of Appraisal of Sexual Stimuli on Sexual Arousal in Women with and Without Superficial Dyspareunia

This study examined the effects of appraisal of sexual stimuli on sexual arousal in women with superficial dyspareunia (n = 50) and sexually functional women (n = 25). To elicit different appraisals of an erotic film fragment, participants received an instruction prior to viewing it, with a focus on genital pain or on sexual enjoyment. A neutral instruction served as a control condition. Assignment to instruction condition was randomized. Genital arousal (vaginal pulse amplitude) and self-report ratings of affect and genital sensations were obtained in response to the erotic stimulus. As predicted, appraisal of the erotic stimulus affected genital responding, albeit marginally significant. Follow-up tests indicated that women who received the genital pain instruction responded with marginally significant lower genital arousal levels than women who received the sexual enjoyment instruction (d = 0.67). A significant instruction effect for negative affect was found, signifying that negative affect ratings were highest after the genital pain instruction and lowest after the sexual enjoyment instruction (d = 0.80). A marginally significant group by instruction interaction effect was observed for positive affect, indicating that women with dyspareunia reported significantly less positive affect than controls after the sexual enjoyment instruction (d = 1.48). Whereas women with dyspareunia reported overall marginally significant more negative affect than controls (d = 0.48), there were no differences in genital responsiveness between groups. These results provided preliminary evidence for the modulatory effects of appraisal of sexual stimuli on subsequent genital responding and affect in women with and without sexual complaints.     

Effects of Gender and Relationship Context in Audio Narratives on Genital and Subjective Sexual Response in Heterosexual Women and Men

Previous research suggests that heterosexual women’s sexual arousal patterns are nonspecific; heterosexual women demonstrate genital arousal to both preferred and nonpreferred sexual stimuli. These patterns may, however, be related to the intense and impersonal nature of the audiovisual stimuli used. The current study investigated the gender specificity of heterosexual women’s sexual arousal in response to less intense sexual stimuli, and also examined the role of relationship context on both women’s and men’s genital and subjective sexual responses. Assessments were made of 43 heterosexual women’s and 9 heterosexual men’s genital and subjective sexual arousal to audio narratives describing sexual or neutral encounters with female and male strangers, friends, or long-term relationship partners. Consistent with research employing audiovisual sexual stimuli, men demonstrated a category-specific pattern of genital and subjective arousal with respect to gender, while women showed a nonspecific pattern of genital arousal, yet reported a category-specific pattern of subjective arousal. Heterosexual women’s nonspecific genital response to gender cues is not a function of stimulus intensity or relationship context. Relationship context did significantly affect women’s genital sexual arousal—arousal to both female and male friends was significantly lower than to the stranger and long-term relationship contexts—but not men’s. These results suggest that relationship context may be a more important factor in heterosexual women’s physiological sexual response than gender cues.     

Body image and sexuality in oophorectomized women

Five groups of women ages 35 to 55 years were studied, including a nonsurgical control group (CTL), a hysterectomy-only (HYS), and three oophorectomy groups: an untreated group (UNT), women on estrogen replacement therapy (EST), and women on androgen-estrogen replacement therapy (COM). The interview/questionnaire session assessed mood, body image, and sexual functioning. In a second session completed by 58 of 129 subjects (45%), a photoplethysmograph measured vaginal blood flow in response to an erotic stimulus while subjects concurrently monitored subjective arousal. Overall, the UNT and EST groups had significantly lower self-reported desire and arousal than the remaining three groups. Body image was significantly poorer in the UNT group. All surgical groups reported more sexual problems than the control group. Furthermore, about a third of the CTL group reported positive changes in body image and sexuality in the previous 5 years. This effect was attenuated in the HYS, COM, and EST groups and almost absent in the UNT group. No significant group differences were obtained, however, on mood or vaginal blood flow and subjective arousal to an erotic stimulus. The role of differential levels of testosterone on sexuality is discussed as well as its clinical implications.This research was conducted as part of the first author's Ph.D. thesis requirement under the direction of the second author at McGill University and was supported by grants from the Medical Research Council of Canada (Studentship), Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et l'Aide à la Recherche, and McGill Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research-Social Science Research Grant. Dr. Bellerose is currently at the Douglas Hospital in Verdun, Quebec.     

Allocation of Attentional Resources During Habituation and Dishabituation of Male Sexual Arousal

A secondary-task probe (tone) was presentedintermittently while men viewed erotic film segmentsacross a session involving 18 trials with the same filmsegment (habituation), then 2 trials with different film segments (novelty) and 2 trials withreinstatement of the original segment (dishabituation).Reaction time to the tone (an index of the extentprocessing resources were being committed to the erotic stimulus) shifted during the session inparallel with changes that occurred in penile tumescenceand subjective sexual arousal. The decrease in sexualarousal over the first 18 trials in the session was accompanied by a progressively faster reactionto the tone, novel stimulation led to recovery of sexualarousal and a slower reaction to the tone, and on trials21 and 22 sexual arousal and reaction time levels were above the values that prevailedimmediately prior to novel stimulation. Results arediscussed with reference to the relationship betweenhabituation and attention.     

Pavlovian Conditioning of Sexual Interests in Human Males

Pavlovian conditioning of the human male sexual response may be involved in the ontogenetic development of sexual interests and may be responsible for individual differences. We attempted to demonstrate Pavlovian conditioning of sexual interests in a nonclinical sample of adult males. Ten participants were exposed to 11 pairings of a slide of a moderately attractive, partially nude female adult (TARGET) and a highly arousing videotape depiction of heterosexual sexual interactions (US). Ten other participants were exposed to 11 presentations of the TARGET alone. Participants exposed to the TARGET-US contingency showed a 10% relative increase in sexual arousal to the TARGET; participants exposed to the TARGET-ALONE contingency showed an 11% relative decrease in sexual arousal to the TARGET. This group difference is interpreted as resulting from both conditioning and habituation.     

Sexual Picture Processing Interferes with Decision-Making Under Ambiguity

Many people watch sexually arousing material on the Internet in order to receive sexual arousal and gratification. When browsing for sexual stimuli, individuals have to make several decisions, all possibly leading to positive or negative consequences. Decision-making research has shown that decisions under ambiguity are influenced by consequences received following earlier decisions. Sexual arousal might interfere with the decision-making process and should therefore lead to disadvantageous decision-making in the long run. In the current study, 82 heterosexual, male participants watched sexual pictures, rated them with respect to sexual arousal, and were asked to indicate their current level of sexual arousal before and following the sexual picture presentation. Afterwards, subjects performed one of two modified versions of the Iowa Gambling Task in which sexual pictures were displayed on the advantageous and neutral pictures on the disadvantageous card decks or vice versa (n = 41/n = 41). Results demonstrated an increase of sexual arousal following the sexual picture presentation. Decision-making performance was worse when sexual pictures were associated with disadvantageous card decks compared to performance when the sexual pictures were linked to the advantageous decks. Subjective sexual arousal moderated the relationship between task condition and decision-making performance. This study emphasized that sexual arousal interfered with decision-making, which may explain why some individuals experience negative consequences in the context of cybersex use.     

Effects of Alcohol Intoxication and Instructional Set on Women’s Sexual Arousal Vary Based on Sexual Abuse History

The influence of alcohol intoxication and arousal instructional set on psychophysiological measures of sexual responding was examined in a non-clinical sample of sexually abused (SA) and non-sexually abused (NSA) women. Participants (n=42) were randomly assigned to consume alcoholic (target blood alcohol level = .08%) or non-alcoholic drinks and to receive instructions to maximize or suppress their sexual response to erotic films. Measures included vaginal pulse amplitude (VPA), self-reported sexual arousal, and mood. SA classification interacted with instruction condition such that NSA women's VPA scores were higher under maximize than suppress instructions, but this did not occur for SA women. SA classification interacted with alcohol such that, compared to their sober counterparts, intoxicated NSA women reported less sexual arousal, whereas intoxicated SA women reported more sexual arousal than their sober counterparts. Moreover, positive mood ratings were highest among intoxicated SA women. Findings indicate that alcohol may affect women differently based on SA history and imply that SA history may be associated with differences in response to subsequent sexual situations.