Habituation of male sexual arousal: effects of attentional focus

Three experiments are reported demonstrating that levels of penile tumescen ce and subjective sexual arousal are greater when men employ participant-or iented rather than spectator-oriented attentional focus while viewing an er otic film segment. Under each instructional set, there was a reduction in s exual arousal during repeated erotic stimulation. As sexual arousal habitua ted, the men reported feeling less absorbed during erotic stimulation. When these associated changes in attentional focus (absorption) were partialled out through analysis of covariance, sexual arousal remained relatively sta ble over trials, suggesting that sexual arousal is less likely to habituate if attentional focus remains constant during repeated erotic stimulation. Further directions for studying associations between habituation of sexual arousal and cognitive processing are discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B .V. All rights reserved.