REVIEW: New Electroencephalogram (EEG) Neuroimaging Methods of Analyzing Brain Activity Applicable to the Study of Human Sexual Response

Abstract

Electroencephalogram (EEG) combined with brain source localization algorithms is becoming a powerful tool in the neuroimaging study of human cerebral functions. The present article provides a tutorial on the various EEG methods currently used to study the human brain activity, notably during sexual response. Review of published literature on standard EEG waveform analyses and most recent electrical neuroimaging techniques (microstate approach and two methods of brain source localization). Retrospective overview of pertinent literature. Although the standard EEG waveform analyses enable millisecond time-resolution information about the human sexual responses in the brain, less is clear about their related spatial information. Nowadays, the improvement of EEG techniques and statistical approaches allows the visualization of the dynamics of the human sexual response with a higher spatiotemporal resolution. Here, we describe these enhanced techniques and summarize along with an overview of what we have learned from them in terms of chronoarchitecture of sexual response in the human brain. Finally, the speculation on how we may be able to use other enhanced approaches, such as independent component analysis, are also presented. EEG neuroimaging has already been proven as a strong worthwhile research tool. Combining this approach with standard EEG waveform analyses in sexual medicine may provide a better understanding of the neural activity underlying the human sexual response in both healthy and clinical populations.