Appetitive and Aversive Classical Conditioning of Female Sexual Response

Abstract

Introduction There is only limited evidence for appetitive classical conditioning of female sexual response, and to date modulation of female sexual response by aversive conditioning has not been studied. Aim The aim of this article is to study appetitive and aversive classical conditioning of sexual responses in women. Main Outcome Measures Vaginal pulse amplitude was assessed by vaginal photoplethysmography and ratings of affective value were obtained. Method Two differential conditioning experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, on appetitive conditioning, neutral pictures served as conditional stimuli (CSs) and genital vibrotactile stimulation as the unconditional stimulus (US). In Experiment 2, on aversive conditioning, erotic pictures served as CSs and a pain stimulus as US. In both experiments, only one CS (the CS+) was followed by the US during the acquisition phase. Conditioned responses were assessed during the extinction phase. Results In Experiment 1, during the extinction phase, as expected vaginal pulse amplitude was higher in response to the CS+ than during the CS−. Also, the CS+ was rated as marginally more positive than the CS−. In Experiment 2, during the extinction phase, as expected vaginal pulse amplitude was lower in response to the CS+ than during the CS−, and the CS+ was rated as more negative than the CS−. Conclusions The results provide evidence for appetitive classical conditioning of sexual response in women, and are the first to show attenuation of sexual response in women by aversive conditioning.

Extinction and Renewal of Conditioned Sexual Responses

“…In line with previous studies [43], [44], the analyses of VPA during the acquisition phase did not reveal a main effect of Stimulus on FIR, p < .08, and SIR, p  =  .28, whereas it did on TIR, showing that VPA was higher following the presentation of the CS+ plus vibrostimulation than following the CS−, F (1, 56) =  27.74, p < .01,  =  .33. As can be seen in Figure 2,b, the vibrostimulation resulted in a genital arousal response.…”

“…Therefore it seems that combination of a non-visual sexual US and neutral CSs is not sufficient to elicit conditioned genital responding in men. With respect to genital arousal, the present study contributes to the accumulating evidence [43], [44] that women can be sexually conditioned to initially neutral stimuli, whereas our results do not support such a straightforward mechanism in men, at least, when making use of a tactile US. However, making use of sexually explicit visual stimuli as US, conditioned responses towards an initial neutral CS (a penny jar) were observed by Plaud and Martini [46].…”

Clinical and research concerns with vibratory stimulation: a review and pilot study of common stimulation devices

“…Experimenters successfully conditioned sexual response using two second stimulation periods from a 2cm butterfly-style (''handsoff'') vibrator (Both et al, 2008). Laan and van Lunsen (2002) used vibratory stimulation to successfully induce orgasm in all the female participants in a laboratory study, which has been reported only in poster format to date.…”

Disorders in sexual desire and sexual arousal in women, a 2010 state of the art

“…Another mechanism that may be involved is classical conditioning [64][65][66]. Laboratory studies on women have shown that the sexual arousal response to a specific stimulus can be positively conditioned by repeatedly pairing the stimulus with pleasurable sexual stimulation.…”

“…Sexual stimuli can also lose their attractiveness when sex repeatedly results in negative outcomes, such as anxiety, disappointment or pain during intercourse. Recently, a laboratory study showed that when an erotic stimulus was repeatedly followed by a pain stimulus, this suppressed the sexual arousal response and the subjective appreciation of the erotic stimulus [65].…”