Cerebral activation associated with sexual arousal in response to a pornographic clip: A O-15-H2O, PET study in heterosexual men

This study attempted to use PET and O-15-H2O to measure changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during sexual arousal evoked in 10 young hetero sexual males while they watched a pornographic video clip, featuring hetero sexual intercourse. This condition was compared with other mental setups ev oked by noisy, nature, and talkshow audiovisual clips. Immediately after ea ch clip, the participants answered three questions pertaining to what exten t they thought about sex, felt aroused, and sensed an erection. They scored their answers using a 1 to 10 scale. SPM was used for data analysis. Sexua l arousal was mainly associated with activation of bilateral, predominantly right, inferoposterior extrastriate cortices, of the right inferolateral p refrontal cortex and of the midbrain. The significance of those findings is discussed in the light of current theories concerning selective attention, "mind reading" and mirroring, reinforcement of pleasurable stimuli, and pen ile erection. (C) 2001 Academic Press.