Arousal In Men Research Articles

Rare, but potentially risky, high individual increase of self-reported sexual arousal in men, who have committed sexual offenses against children, while being confronted with experimental sexual stimuli — a retrospective data analysis

AbstractThis data analysis was initiated to further understand the infrequent yet intense instances of sexual arousal and signs of decompensation that emerge after exposing men who have committed sexual offenses against children to experimental sexual stimuli. We analyzed retrospectively and exploratory data of a self-developed sexual arousal questionnaire (“Current-State-of-Emotions-Questionnaire”, CSEQ) with the following objectives: (i) examine subjective sexual arousal changes elicited during confrontation with experimental sexual stimuli, (ii) analyze these sexual arousal changes at an individual level to detect large responses, and (iii) ask for associations between large responses in sexual arousal and individual characteristics of participants, e.g., demographic, clinical, and criminological parameters. The sample consisted of 241 adult, male Germans, comprising four groups: Ten individuals who have committed sexual offenses against children and have been placed in forensic psychiatric facilities (ISOCFP), 31 non-hospitalized individuals with sexual interest in children (ISIC), eight individuals who have committed other offenses and have been placed in forensic psychiatric facilities (IOFP), and 192 individuals without sexual interest in children and offense histories (IWO). We found a significant increase in subjective sexual arousal after confrontation with sexual stimuli (three experiments: initial orientation: Z = −4.819, p < .001, sexual distractor task: Z = −2.954, p = .003, stimulus rating: Z = −6.899, p < .001). Up to 14.3% of participants indicated high sexual arousal values before, but mainly after the experiments, with 20.0% of ISOCFP, 12.9% of ISIC, 12.5% of IOFP, and 14.6% of IWO. ISOCFP and ISIC with high sexual arousal were more likely to be diagnosed with paraphilia (pedophilia) and/or affective disorders, and to receive anti-depressive treatment. We assume a higher emotional lability or/and reduced emotion regulation abilities in those individuals. A careful weighing up of anticipated scientific knowledge gain and a potentially, though rare, increased risk of recidivism or decompensation seems indispensable.

Sexual Stimuli Cause Behavioral Disinhibition in Both Men and Women, but Even More So in Men

In our society men are considered more impulsive than women, especially in the violent and sexual domain. This correlation of sex and impulsivity might trace back to enhanced male impulsivity in general or a domain specific effect of emotions on impulsivity. The evidence for sex differences in the interaction of emotional or sexual stimuli and impulsivity has been relatively inconclusive so far. In this study, we investigated the effects of various emotional stimuli on responsivity in a Go/No-Go task. Participants had to respond quickly to a visual cue and withhold their response to another visual cue, while different emotional pictures were presented in the background, including sexual stimuli, non-sexual positive stimuli and negative stimuli. Both men (N = 37) and women (N = 38) made most commission errors in the sexual condition, indicating a disinhibiting effect in both genders. On top of this, men made even more commission errors than women, specifically in the sexual condition and not in other conditions. Men rated sexual stimuli as more positive, but did not differ from women in arousal ratings and pupil dilation. These findings may partly indicate increased impulsive behavior under sexual arousal in men, most likely driven by enhanced approach motivation due to more positive value but not higher arousal of sexual stimuli. The results are consistent with the theory of evolutionarily based concealment of sexual interest in women.

The Relation Between the Paraphilias and Anxiety in Men: A Case-Control Study.

Despite a multitude of theoretical views, it is still unclear how individuals develop and sustain paraphilic interests (e.g., sexual attraction to children, interest in non-consensual violence). It is also not clear from these views why many paraphilic interests, and especially many paraphilias and paraphilic disorders, are much more common in men than in women. One possible factor affecting male's higher rate of paraphilias is anxiety, because anxiety can potentiate sexual arousal in men. We speculated that paraphilic interests could develop when feelings of anxiety are recurrently generated by atypical sexual stimuli, and when that anxiety repeatedly potentiates sexual arousal, reinforcing sexual response to atypical stimuli. It follows that men with paraphilic interests are susceptible to anxiety disorders, because an anxiety disorder would facilitate the hypothesized developmental process. We conducted a retrospective file review of 1048 consecutive patients (944 male patients retained for analysis) referred to an outpatient sexual behavior clinic at a psychiatric hospital to investigate the link between paraphilias and anxiety. Male patients with a paraphilia had 1.64 greater odds than male patients without a paraphilia of having been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, but they also had elevated rates of many other types of disorders. Therefore, there does not seem to be a specific link between paraphilias and anxiety in this sample. The discovery of a general link between the paraphilias and psychological disorders in men opens new avenues for studying the developmental origins and consequences of male paraphilic interests.

Anxiety induction and sexual arousal in men and women

Anxiety can sometimes inhibit and sometimes potentiate sexual arousal. We examined whether an anxiety manipulation in a classical fear-conditioning paradigm impacts self-reported sexual arousal in men and women. University students (62 men, 61 women) underwent differential fear conditioning to erotic images; half the images were sometimes (60%) paired with a shock (CS+) and half were never paired with a shock (CS–). For each trial, participants rated their sexual arousal and anxiety in response to the image; skin conductance response (SCR) and zygomatic and corrugator activity were recorded. During acquisition, self-reported sexual arousal was lower to CS+ than CS− (inhibiting effect), but in men only. During extinction, self-reported sexual arousal was lower to CS+ than CS− for both genders. Some differences produced by CS+ and CS− were observed for SCR and zygomatic and corrugator activation at different points during acquisition and extinction, but the effects were unrelated to ratings of anxiety or sexual arousal. The negative impact of anxiety on sexual arousal appears to be resistant to extinction, and small gender differences were observed. Future studies should include direct measures of physiological sexual arousal. The relationship between sexual arousal and anxiety appears to be complex and should be further investigated.

Delayed Surgery after Neoadjuvant Treatment for Rectal Cancer Does Not Lead to Impaired Quality of Life, Worry for Cancer, or Regret.

Simple SummaryRectal cancer patients with an initial (near) complete clinical response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy can be repeatedly assessed to see if a complete response endures. Up to 75% of these patients are able to avoid surgery and its related complications. However, the remaining 25% who ‘fail’ will eventually have to undergo surgery. Although recent studies have shown that patients undergoing delayed surgery have promising surgical and oncological outcomes, it is not known how these patients fare in terms of quality of life. The aim of this study was to compare quality of life between these immediate and delayed surgery groups through validated questionnaires. Our study including 51 patients shows no difference in quality of life, worry for cancer, or decision regret. Therefore, from a quality of life perspective, this study supports a repeated response assessment strategy after chemoradiotherapy for rectal carcinoma to identify all complete responders.Non operative management of complete clinical responders after neoadjuvant treatment for rectal cancer enjoys an increasing popularity because of the increased functional outcome results. Even a near complete response can evolve in a cCR, and therefore further delaying response assessment is accepted. However, up to 40% of patients will develop a regrowth and will eventually require delayed surgery. It is presently unknown if and to what extent quality of life of these patients is affected, compared to patients who undergo immediate surgery. Between January 2015-May 2020, 200 patients were treated with neoadjuvant therapy of whom 94 received TME surgery. Fifty-one (59%) of 87 alive patients returned the questionnaires: 33 patients who underwent immediate and 18 patients who underwent delayed surgery. Quality of life was measured through the QLQ-C30, QLQ-CR29, and Cancer Worry Scale questionnaires. Regret to participate in repeated response assessment protocol was assessed through the Decision Regret Scale. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a ‘known groups comparison’ was performed to assess QLQ questionnaires validity in this sample. Higher mean physical function scores (89.2 vs. 77.6, p = 0.03) were observed in the immediate surgery group, which lost significance after correction for operation type (p = 0.25). Arousal for men was higher in the delayed surgery group (20.0 vs. 57.1, p = 0.02). There were no differences between surgical groups for the other questionnaire items. Worry for cancer was lower in the delayed surgery group (10.8 vs. 14.0, p = 0.21). Regret was very low (12–16%). EFA reproduced most QLQ C-30 and CR29 subscales with good internal consistency. Quality of life is not impaired in patients undergoing delayed TME surgery after neoadjuvant treatment for rectal cancer. Moreover, there is very low regret and no increase in worry for cancer. Therefore, from a quality of life perspective, this study supports a repeated response assessment strategy after CRTx for rectal carcinoma to identify all complete responders.

Shared multisensory sexual arousal in virtual reality (VR) environments

AbstractThis research explores multisensory sexual arousal in men and women, and how it can be implemented and shared between multiple individuals in Virtual Reality (VR). This is achieved through the stimulation of human senses with immersive technology including visual, olfactory, auditory, and haptic triggers. Participants are invited to VR to test various sensory triggers and assess them as sexually arousing or not. A literature review on VR experiments related to sexuality, the concepts of perception and multisensory experiments, and data collected from self-reports was used to conclude. The goal of this research is to establish that sexual arousal is a multisensory event that may or may not be linked to the presence or thought of the intended object of desire (sexual partner). By examining what stimulates arousal, we better understand the multisensory capacity of humans, leading not only to richer sexual experiences but also to the further development of wearable sextech products, soft robotics, and multisensory learning machines. This understanding helps with other research related to human-robot interaction, affection, detection, and transmission in both physical and virtual realities, and how VR technology can help to design a new generation of sex robots.

The Erogenous Mirror: Intersubjective and Multisensory Maps of Sexual Arousal in Men and Women

Erogenous zones of the body are sexually arousing when touched. Previous investigations of erogenous zones were restricted to the effects of touch on one’s own body. However, sexual interactions do not just involve being touched, but also involve touching a partner and mutually looking at each other’s bodies. We take a novel interpersonal approach to characterize the self-reported intensity and distribution of erogenous zones in two modalities: touch and vision. A large internet sample of 613 participants (407 women) completed a questionnaire, where they rated intensity of sexual arousal related to different body parts, both on one’s own body and on an imagined partner’s body in response to being touched but also being looked at. We report the presence of a multimodal erogenous mirror between sexual partners, as we observed clear correspondences in topographic distributions of self-reported arousal between individuals’ own bodies and their preferences for a partner’s body, as well as between those elicited by imagined touch and vision. The erogenous body is therefore organized and represented in an interpersonal and multisensory way.

Interventions for Pedohebephilic Arousal in Men Convicted for Sexual Offenses Against Children: A Meta-Analytic Review

Given the centrality of pedohebephilic interest in understanding sexual offending against children, several interventions have been developed to help men manage or inhibit their sexual arousal to children to reduce the intensity of their experience of such arousal. A meta-analytic review was conducted to examine the effectiveness of interventions for managing pedohebephilic arousal, as measured by phallometric testing. A systematic literature review identified 23 within-group design studies and 18 single-case design studies ( N = 1,071) for analysis. Behavioral and pharmacological interventions showed moderate to large effects for reducing pedohebephilic arousal. Moderator analyses suggest that men with high pretreatment pedohebephilic arousal showed the greatest reductions in arousal. Small effects were found for comprehensive treatment programs; none of the interventions had the effect of increasing sexual arousal to adults. These results support the effectiveness of behavioral and pharmacological interventions for managing pedohebephilic arousal in men convicted of sexual offenses against children.

The influence of olfactory disgust on (Genital) sexual arousal in men

BackgroundThe generation or persistence of sexual arousal may be compromised when inhibitory processes such as negative emotions, outweigh sexual excitation. Disgust particularly, has been proposed as one of the emotions that may counteract sexual arousal. In support of this view, previous research has shown that disgust priming can reduce subsequent sexual arousal. As a crucial next step, this experimental study tested whether disgust (by means of odor) can also diminish sexual arousal in individuals who are already in a state of heightened sexual excitation.MethodologyIn this study, participants were all men (N = 78). To elicit sexual arousal, participants watched a pornographic video. Following 4.30 minutes from the start of the video clip, they were exposed to either a highly aversive/disgusting odor (n = 42), or an odorless diluent/solvent (n = 36), that was delivered via an olfactometer, while the pornographic video continued. In both conditions the presentation of the odor lasted 1 second and was repeated 11 times with intervals of 26 seconds. Sexual arousal was indexed by both self-reports and penile circumference.Principal findingsThe disgusting odor (released when the participants were already sexually aroused) resulted in a significant decrease of both subjective and genital sexual arousal compared to the control (odorless) condition.SignificanceThe finding that the inhibitory effect of disgust was not only expressed in self-report but also expressed on the penile response further strengthens the idea that disgust might hamper behavioral actions motivated by sexual arousal (e.g., poor judgment, coercive sexual behavior). Thus, the current findings indicate that exposure to an aversive odor is sufficiently potent to reduce already present (subjective and) genital sexual arousal. This finding may also have practical relevance for disgust to be used as a tool for self-defence (e.g., Invi Bracelet).

A Comparison of Sexual Arousal in Men Exposed to Visual Stimuli With and Without Facial Blurring.

The role of the facial images in arousal and attraction has been examined before but never via penile plethysmography (PPG). This retrospective chart review aimed to determine the significance and magnitude of differences in arousal measured by PPG in 1,000 men exposed to slide stimuli with or without facial blurring in subjects of various ages. Arousal in response to blurred stimuli was significantly higher than nonanonymized stimuli with modest effect sizes for slides across age and gender categories. Facial blurring increased differences in arousal between adults and adolescents with a modest effect size. Our findings support the use of facial blurring to further protect the anonymity of models and limit the ethical and legal challenges of using slide stimuli with child models.

Concurrent Assessment of Penile Blood Flow and Circumference as Indicators of Male Sexual Arousal

IntroductionThe current study aims to validate a new imaging tool to assess men’s sexual psychophysiological responding: laser Doppler imaging (LDI), which directly measures subcutaneous genital blood flow. In this study, we concurrently assessed genital sexual arousal in a sample of men using the LDI and the current gold standard of male sexual psychophysiology, the penile strain gauge (PSG). AimTo (i) assess the validity of the LDI as a measure of male sexual arousal, (ii) evaluate the relationship between the LDI and PSG, and (iii) compare sexual concordance produced by the LDI and PSG. MethodsA total of 25 male participants (Mage = 24.28 years, SD = 6.10, range 18–37) watched 4 experimental films (ie, anxiety-provoking, humorous, erotic, neutral nature content) while their sexual arousal was assessed. Genital sexual arousal was assessed using the LDI (blood perfusion) and PSG (penile tumescence) concurrently. Subjective sexual arousal was assessed using continuous and discrete self-reported measures. Main Outcome MeasureResults demonstrate the validity of the LDI as an imaging-based measure of male genital arousal, and one that is comparable to the PSG. ResultsSignificant increases in genital blood flow assessed via the LDI were observed for erotic, but not anxiety-provoking, humorous, or neutral films (F[1.65, 39.57] = 18.23, P < .001, ηp2 = .43). A moderate, positive correlation between genital arousal measured via the LDI and PSG concurrently was observed (r = .40), despite considerable across-participant variability. In the current sample, the LDI and PSG both produced strong sexual concordance estimates (r = .51 and r = .46, respectively). When all LDI and PSG concordance estimates were correlated, a moderate relationship was revealed (r = .37). Clinical ImplicationsAs a new imaging tool for male sexual psychophysiological arousal, the LDI holds promise for improving our understanding of issues related to men’s sexual health. Strength & LimitationsMovement artifacts produced by penile engorgement were a limitation to the LDI as an imaging technique. Further, the LDI used in the current study was a discrete measure of arousal, whereas the PSG was continuous; future research would benefit by using continuous measurement capabilities of contemporary LDI systems. ConclusionAs a valid measure of genital sexual arousal in men, the LDI holds promise as a tool that can be used to explore more nuanced questions about human sexuality, including cross-gender comparisons and real-time exploration of genital arousal patterns.Bossio JA, Singh M, Pukall CF. Concurrent assessment of penile blood flow and circumference as indicators of male sexual arousal. J Sex Med 2018;15:1570–1578.

How Hot Are They? Neural Correlates of Genital Arousal: An Infrared Thermographic and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Sexual Arousal in Men and Women

BackgroundThe few studies that have examined the neural correlates of genital arousal have focused on men and are methodologically hard to compare. AimTo investigate the neural correlates of peripheral physiologic sexual arousal using identical methodology for men and women. Methods2 groups (20 men, 20 women) viewed movie clips (erotic, humor) while genital temperature was continuously measured using infrared thermal imaging. Participants also continuously evaluated changes in their subjective arousal and answered discrete questions about liking the movies and wanting sexual stimulation. Brain activity, indicated by blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response, was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. OutcomesBOLD responses, genital temperature, and subjective sexual arousal. ResultsBOLD activity in a number of brain regions was correlated with changes in genital temperature in men and women; however, activation in women appeared to be more extensive than in men, including the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, right cerebellum, insula, frontal operculum, and paracingulate gyrus. Examination of the strength of the correlation between BOLD response and genital temperature showed that women had a stronger brain-genital relation compared with men in a number of regions. There were no brain regions in men with stronger brain-genital correlations than in women. Clinical TranslationOur findings shed light on the neurophysiologic processes involved in genital arousal for men and women. Further research examining the specific brain regions that mediate our findings is necessary to pave the way for clinical application. Strengths and LimitationsA strength of the study is the use of thermography, which allows for a direct comparison of the neural correlates of genital arousal in men and women. This study has the common limitations of most laboratory-based sexual arousal research, including sampling bias, lack of ecologic validity, and equipment limitations, and those common to neuroimaging research, including BOLD signal interpretation and neuroimaging analysis issues. ConclusionsOur findings provide direct sex comparisons of the neural correlates of genital arousal in men and women and suggest that brain-genital correlations could be stronger in women.Parada M, Gérard M, Larcher K, et al. How Hot Are They? Neural Correlates of Genital Arousal: An Infrared Thermographic and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Sexual Arousal in Men and Women. J Sex Med 2018;15:217–229.

Subjective sleep quality, unstimulated sexual arousal, and sexual frequency.

IntroductionREM sleep deprivation increases unstimulated erections in rats, and total sleep deprivation increases erections during audiovisual sexual stimulation in men, but the effects of sleep problems on human unstimulated sexual arousal are unknown.ObjectiveWe examined the associations of subjective sleep quality with unstimulated sexual arousal, satisfaction with sex life, and sexual frequency and desire over the past month.Methods275 Portuguese (169 women) reported their anxiety, sexual arousal and sexual desire during a resting state, and completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the sexual satisfaction subscale of the LiSat scale, the Desire dimensions of the Female Sexual Function Index (women only) and International Index of Erectile Function (men only). They additionally reported how many days in the past month they engaged in penile-vaginal intercourse, noncoital sex, and masturbation. Salivary testosterone (T) was assayed by luminescence immunoassays.ResultsPoorer sleep quality correlated with greater unstimulated sexual arousal in men with higher T levels and in women with higher T levels not taking oral contraceptives. In women with lower T, poorer subjective sleep quality correlated with greater sexual dissatisfaction. In both sexes, sleep quality was uncorrelated with sexual desire and sexual frequency over the past month.DiscussionConsistently with other studies in humans and animals, the findings are congruent with the notion that lack of sleep can increase sexual arousal, but not sexual frequency. T might play a role in the sexual arousal caused by lack of appropriate sleep.

Neural Representation of Subjective Sexual Arousal in Men and Women

IntroductionStudies investigating brain indices of sexual arousal have begun to elucidate the brain's role in processing subjective arousal; however, most research has focused on men, used discrete ratings of subjective arousal, and used stimuli too short to induce significant arousal in women. AimTo examine brain regions modulated by changes in subjective sexual arousal (SSA) rating intensity in men and women. MethodsTwo groups (20 men, 20 women) viewed movie clips (erotic or humorous) while continuously evaluating changes in their SSA using a Likert-like scale (0 = not aroused, 10 = most aroused) and answering discrete questions about liking the movies and wanting sexual stimulation. Brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Main Outcome MeasuresBlood oxygen level-dependent responses and continuous and discrete measurements of sexual arousal. ResultsErotic movies induced significant SSA in men and women. No sex difference in mean SSA was found in response to the erotic movies on continuous or discrete measurements. Several brain regions were correlated with changes in SSA. Parametric modulation with rating intensity showed a specific group of regions within the parietal lobe that showed significant differences in activity among low, medium, and high SSA. ConclusionMultiple regions were concordant with changes in SSA; however, a subset of regions in men and women was modulated by SSA intensity, a subset previously linked to attentional processes, monitoring of internal body representation, and processing of sensory information from the genitals. This study highlights that similar brain regions are activated during subjective assessment of sexual arousal in men and women. The data further highlight the fact that SSA is a complex phenomenon made up of multiple interoceptive and attentional processes.

Sexual arousal and rhythmic synchronization: A possible effect of vasopressin

Music is ubiquitous. Yet, its biological relevance is still an ongoing debate. Supporting the view that music had an ancestral role in courtship displays, a pilot study presented here provides preliminary evidence on the link between music and sexual selection. The underlying hypothesis is based on the fact that the sexually dimorphic neuropeptide vasopressin has its receptors in the part of the brain involved in music and dance performance (the basal ganglia), and its concentrations rise during sexual arousal in men. In addition, music, dance, and courtship phenotypes seem to be in part regulated by vasopressin and its genes. Hence, to test this hypothesis, a rhythmic synchronization task was employed here on one male subject during sexual arousal. Results revealed a significant effect of sexual arousal on rhythm synchronization. This is the first report that empirically supports the hypothesis on the role of music in sexual selection. Further studies are clearly required.

Sex differences in concordance rates between auditory event-related potentials and subjective sexual arousal.

Much research indicates men show a greater concordance between subjective and genital sexual arousal than do women. We investigated the relationship between subjective sexual arousal and brain activation in men and women. Subjective sexual arousal and auditory N1 and P3b ERP amplitudes were measured while 38 participants viewed erotic and non-erotic films. Most notably, there was a significant correlation between N1 amplitude and sexual arousal in men; for women, there was a significant correlation between the P3b amplitude and sexual arousal. ERP amplitudes were inversely associated with reported arousal, suggesting that sexual arousal interferes with early tone processing for men, and with later tone processing for women. Lastly, for women, pornography/erotica consumption was negatively correlated with P3b amplitudes, suggesting that women who consume more pornography/erotica may also show greater attention to erotic films.

2. The Effects of Sociosexual Orientation, Gender and Relationship Context Cues in Audio Narratives on Heterosexual Men's Genital and Subjective Sexual Response.

Past research suggests that heterosexual men show a category-specific pattern of sexual arousal, showing greater arousal to stimuli depicting women than those depicting men.Gender is not, however, the only factor affecting sexual arousal in men. Research has shown that men regard relationship context as an important factor in sexual arousal.Additionally, men show greater sexual arousal to novel than to familiar sexual stimuli. Sociosexuality, the preference for committed or uncommitted sexual relationships,affects behaviour and partner preferences. The current study investigates the relationship between sociosexuality, gender cues, relationship context cues, and sexual arousal in menby assessing 25 heterosexual men’s genital and subjective sexual arousal to 18 audio narratives describing sexual or neutral encounters with female and male strangers,friends, or long-term relationship partners. I expect that heterosexual men will show greater subjective and genital arousal in response to stimuli depicting a sexual encounter with a woman than to stimuli depicting a sexual encounter with a man, replicating previous research. I hypothesize that there will be an interaction between gender cues and relationship context, such that men will show greater sexual arousal to stimuli depicting novel female sexual partners (strangers and friends) than to stimuli depicting familiar female sexual partners (long-term partners). I predict that higher sociosexuality scores, indicating a greater preference for uncommitted sexual relationships, will correlate with greater sexual arousal to uncommitted relationship contexts (strangers or friends), whereas lower sociosexuality scores, will correspond with greater sexual arousal to the committed relationship context (long-term partner).

Using the Dual Control Model to Investigate the Relationship Between Mood, Genital, and Self-Reported Sexual Arousal in Men and Women

Recent findings suggest that there is considerable interindividual variability in how mood affects sexual arousal and that the dual control model may be helpful in explaining this variation. The current research investigated whether mood interacted with sexual excitation and inhibition proneness to predict subjective and genital arousal. In this study, 33 participants (18 men; 15 women), ages 18 to 45, attended three laboratory sessions where they completed questionnaires assessing preexisting mood and propensity for sexual excitation and inhibition, then watched a series of neutral and sexually explicit films. Subjective sexual arousal was continuously indicated during each film, while genital temperature was measured using thermographic imaging. Sexual excitation and inhibition interacted with various mood scores to significantly predict both subjective and genital arousal in men and women. Several gender differences were found. For example, vigor scores interacted with sexual excitation proneness to significantly predict genital but not subjective arousal in women, while the same interaction significantly predicted subjective but not genital arousal in men. The findings supported the hypothesis that the dual control model is an important framework in understanding how mood influences both subjective and genital sexual arousal.

Research on the Effects of Alcohol and Sexual Arousal on Sexual Risk in Men who have Sex with Men: Implications for HIV Prevention Interventions.

The purpose of this paper was to describe and appraise the research evidence on the effects of acute alcohol intoxication and sexual arousal on sexual risk behaviors in men who have sex with men (MSM) and to examine its implications for design of HIV prevention interventions that target MSM. Toward that end, the paper begins with a discussion of research on sexual arousal in men and alcohol and their acute effects on sexual behaviors. This is followed by a review of empirical evidence on the combined acute effects of alcohol and sexual arousal in heterosexual men (the large majority of studies) and then in MSM. The empirical evidence and related theoretical developments then are integrated to derive implications for developing effective HIV prevention interventions that target MSM.

Influence of Cyperus esculentus tubers (tiger nut) on male rat copulatory behavior.

BackgroundCyperus esculentus tubers (tiger nut) are one of the ancient food sources known to humanity. It is traditionally used in the Middle East to stimulate sexual arousal in men. However, there has been no scientific evidence about its assumed aphrodisiac properties. This study aimed to investigate the influence of tiger nut on the copulatory behavior of sexually active male rats.MethodsTwo sets of sexually active male rats -highly active and moderately active- were identified depending on baseline sexual activity. Rats in each set were randomly divided into a control and treated groups. Highly active rats were treated with doses of 1 and 2 g/kg/d of raw tiger nut powder, while moderately active rats were treated with a dose of 2 g/kg/d. After 30 days’ treatment, copulatory behavior and serum hormonal levels were measured and compared between the groups within each experimental set. Phytochemical analyses including liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry and atomic absorption were performed to elucidate the main constituents of tiger nut that may be responsible for altering serum hormones.ResultsTiger nut stimulated sexual motivation in both highly and moderately active rats, indicated by reduced mount and intromission latencies in these rats compared to controls. Furthermore, tiger nut improved sexual performance, indicated by increased intromission frequency and ratio, in treated moderately active rats compared to controls. Serum testosterone levels increased significantly after tiger nut administration. Lastly, phytochemical analyses revealed the presence of quercetin, vitamin C, vitamin E, and mineral zinc in tiger nut.ConclusionsTiger nut has positive effects on the copulatory behavior of adult male rats.