Visual attention and sexual arousal in women with and without sexual dysfunction.
Behav Res Ther
; 144: 103915, 2021 09.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34174705
ABSTRACT
Attention to sexual stimuli is a prerequisite to process such stimuli as sexually-meaningful and is an important means to facilitate sexual arousal. Attending to sexual cues is crucial 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 typical sexual functioning. A total of 69 women (Mage = 27.77, SD = 8.00) with clinical (n = 30), subclinical (n = 23), and typical (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 typical 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.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Literatura Erótica
/
Excitação Sexual
Limite:
Adult
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Female
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Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Behav Res Ther
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article