Electroencephalographic Correlates of Sexual Arousal Induced by Sexually-Explicit Reading in Human Females

Miguel Angel Guevara,Claudia Amezcua-Gutiérrez,Marisela Hernández-González,Carolina Gómez-Navarro,Anders Ågmo

doi:10.4236/jbbs.2018.811037

Abstract

This study explored the cortical functionality in young women while reading a sexually-explicit text. Electroencephalographic activity (EEG) was recorded in heterosexual women while reading either a sexually-explicit text or one with neutral content. Absolute power (AP) and the degree of EEG synchronization among the prefrontal, temporal and parietal cortices were analyzed for the different EEG bands. To evaluate sexual arousal, valence and general activation, Likert-type and Manikin scales were applied. Subjects scored the sexually-explicit text as more pleasurable, and reported greater general activation and sexual arousal than while reading the neutral one. During reading of the sexually-explicit text only, they showed a higher AP in the beta and gamma bands in temporal areas in both hemispheres, and in the theta band in parietal ones, with a lower degree of EEG synchronization between prefronto-temporal areas in the fast bands. Results show that both hemispheres were activated in these sexually-aroused women. The low bilateral synchronization between prefrontal and temporal regions indicates the independent functionality of these cortices, which could be a requirement for inducing and maintaining sexual arousal during reading of sexually-explicit texts in women. These data should broaden our knowledge of the cortical mechanisms that underlie sexual arousal in women.

Highlights

IntroductionEffectiveness in inducing sexual arousal (SA) varies with the type of sexual stimuli utilized and, few studies have compared different stimuli, they have shown that sexually-explicit videos generate this condition more efficiently than photographic prints [5], slides [6] or audio tapes [1] in both men and women
Considering that reading SET induces a state of sexual arousal [3] [7] [8] [31], and that this state is associated with the activation of the prefrontal, parietal and temporal cortices, the aim of the present study was to characterize cortical functionality by means of Electroencephalographic activity (EEG) recording in young women while reading a SET
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to characterize the cortical EEG activity of young women during sexual arousal induced by reading sexually-explicit texts

Summary

Introduction

Effectiveness in inducing SA varies with the type of sexual stimuli utilized and, few studies have compared different stimuli, they have shown that sexually-explicit videos generate this condition more efficiently than photographic prints [5], slides [6] or audio tapes [1] in both men and women. This may explain why most laboratory studies have used sexual videos. There are some studies in which it was shown that reading erotic texts induce sexual arousal

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion