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Habituation of male sexual arousal: effects of attentional focus
Three experiments are reported demonstrating that levels of penile tumescence and subjective sexual arousal are greater when men employ participant-oriented rather than spectator-oriented attentional focus while viewing an erotic film segment. Under each instructional set, there was a reduction in sexual arousal during repeated erotic stimulation. As sexual arousal habituated, 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 stable 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.
History
Journal
Biological psychologyVolume
58Issue
1Pagination
49 - 64Publisher
Elsevier Science BVLocation
Amsterdam, The NetherlandsPublisher DOI
ISSN
0301-0511eISSN
1873-6246Language
engNotes
Available online 20 July 2001Publication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2001 Elsevier Science B.V.Usage metrics
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