Outcome-specific and general Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfers involving sexual rewards.

Abstract

Outcome-specific and general Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfers (PIT) affect our everyday decision making behaviour in two ways. Upon the perception of a reward-paired cue, the former selects and determines the direction of the action performed to obtain the reward whereas the latter determines the vigour with which the action is performed. In the present study, we aimed to validate a paradigm to successfully measure both these motivational biases toward cues associated with sexual rewards. Within the same paradigm and participants, we demonstrated the existence of outcome-specific PIT, in which participants mobilized more effort for the action associated with a specific sexual reward in the presence of its paired cue, as well as the existence of general PIT, in which participants mobilized more effort for any action associated with a sexual reward in the presence of sexual reward-paired cues than in the presence of a neutral cue. These findings contribute to the literature by providing a paradigm which could potentially help to better understand sexual desire and develop therapeutic interventions for people suffering from sexual desire disorders.