The time course of pupil dilation evoked by visual sexual stimuli: Exploring the underlying ANS mechanisms

Autor: Hartmut Schächinger, Christian E. Deuter, Johannes B. Finke, Xenia Hengesch
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Adult
Male
medicine.medical_specialty
genetic structures
Sexual Behavior
Cognitive Neuroscience
Sexual arousal
Automaticity
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Audiology
Autonomic Nervous System
050105 experimental psychology
Pupil
Developmental psychology
Young Adult
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Developmental Neuroscience
Erotica
Pupillary response
medicine
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Heterosexuality
Biological Psychiatry
Sex Characteristics
Endocrine and Autonomic Systems
General Neuroscience
05 social sciences
Cognition
Galvanic Skin Response
Autonomic nervous system
Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
Neurology
Visual Perception
Dilation (morphology)
Eye tracking
Female
Arousal
Psychology
Photic Stimulation
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Zdroj: Psychophysiology. 54:1444-1458
ISSN: 0048-5772
DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12901
Popis: The early processing of visual sexual stimuli shows signs of automaticity. Moreover, there is evidence for sex-specific patterns in cognitive and physiological responding to erotica. However, little is known about the time course of rapid pupillary responses to sexual stimuli and their correspondence with other measures of autonomic activity in women and men. To study pupil dilation as an implicit measure of sexual arousal at various stages of picture processing, we presented 35 heterosexual participants with pictures showing either erotic couples or single (male/female) erotic nudes, contrasted with people involved in everyday situations. Brightness-adjusted grayscale pictures were shown for a duration of 2,500 ms within the central visual field, alternating with perceptually matched patches. Left pupil diameter was recorded at 500 Hz using a video-based eye tracker. Skin conductance and heart rate were coregistered and correlated with latent components of pupil dilation (dissociated by temporal PCA). Whereas stimulus-evoked changes in pupil size indicated virtually no initial constriction, a rapid effect of appetence emerged (dilation to erotica within 500 ms). Responses at early stages of processing were remarkably consistent across both sexes. In contrast, later phases of pupil dilation, subjective ratings, and skin conductance responses showed a sex-specific pattern. Moreover, evidence for an association of early-onset pupil dilation and heart rate acceleration was found, suggestive of parasympathetic inhibition, whereas the late component was mainly related to sympathetically mediated skin conductance. Taken together, our results indicate that different temporal components of pupil responses to erotic stimuli may reflect divergent underlying neural mechanisms.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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