STEROID REGULATION OF SEXUAL-BEHAVIOR

Investigation into the hormonal control of sexual behavior has a rich and extensive history. For many researchers currently active in the fi eld, the physiological psychologist Frank A. Beach is recognized as th e modern father of the study of hormones and behavior. His publication of the seminal book Hormones and Behavior-A Survey of interrelationsh ips Between Endocrine Secretions and Patterns of Overt Response, publi shed in 1948, was a compilation of the previous 20 years of research e stablishing that gonadal secretions acted in the brain and modulated b ehavior. The question of precisely how hormones can alter brain functi oning in a coordinated fashion and profoundly influence the patterns o f behavioral responsiveness remains unanswered. As with many research areas, application of new techniques and approaches to the problem rev eals additional layers of complexity and previously unimagined relatio nships between hormones, brain, and behavior. In addition, with the in creasing understanding that the brain is a target organ for steroids, the implications of the ramifications of this steroid sensitivity have broadened. The hormonal regulation of sexual behavior is not an isola ted aspect of steroid action in the brain; rather, it is one component of a host of physiological responses influenced by steroids. These in clude such diverse responses as anxiety, aggression, feeding, and lear ning and memory. An appreciation of the diverse effects of steroids ha s emerged from studies on sexual behavior, and a mutually beneficial r elationship between this and other aspects of behavioral neuroscience has flourished and endured. As with all of neuroscience, this research area has been dynamic and progressive and has additionally benefited from a long history of comparative and integrative approaches to anima l behavior. (C) 1996, Elsevier Science Inc.