Sexual and emotional variables influencing sexual response to erotica: A psychophysiological investigation

The relative contribution of attentional and emotional factors to the physi ological and subjective sexual arousal elicited by erotic film,vas evaluate d. Sexual arousal attentional, and emotional responses were measured while 30 men M,ere presented with a series of erotic film segments. Levels of phy siological and subjective sexual arousal were higher when subjects became a bsorbed in the activities portrayed in the film and when they experienced t he depicted erotic encounters as appetitive, than when they were distracted and perceived the encounters as aversive. The erotic film elicited a dimin ished startle response to a sudden burst of white noise presented during st imulation relative to the nature film, suggesting that at a physiological l evel the erotic segments of film were processed as more appetitive in valen ce. The level of sexual arousal elicited by the erotic segments M,as relate d to the extent to which subjects were entertained by the film, even though there was considerable anxiety generated by the portrayed sexual scenarios . Sexual response was not significantly correlated with trait measures of a bsorption las indexed by the Tellegen Absorption Scale) nor with vividness of imagery las assessed by the Betts Questionnaire upon Mental Imagery). Ar ousal was related to state-assessed attentional and emotional variables, an d physiological measures of emotional response, demonstrating the multidime nsional nature of the sexual response. Future directions for comparing male sexual response patterns with female response patterns are suggested.