Beyond pleasure and arousal

Abstract

Previous studies investigating affective reactions to pictures that elicit a specific effect have mainly focused on the dimensions valence and arousal. Using an event-related picture-viewing paradigm in electroencephalography, we investigated whether erotica - that is appetitive, evolutionarily relevant stimuli - have effects on early stages of attentional processing that are distinct from those of other positive and arousing stimuli. Seventeen male students viewed arousing photos of erotic, nude women or pictures of extreme sport scenes, as well as control pictures of attractive, dressed women or daily activities. Erotic pictures differed from extreme sport pictures not only in late but also in early attentional processes, as indicated by event-related potentials appearing from 130 ms after stimulus onset (P1). The findings suggest (a) that the dimension of appetence should be considered in addition to valence and arousal when investigating psychophysiological reactions to affective-motivational stimuli and (b) that early attentional processing as mirrored by the P1 can be influenced by motivational systems.

It's all in the past: temporal-context effects modulate subjective evaluations of emotional visual stimuli, regardless of presentation sequence

“…It is important to stress that these reversed context effects appeared primarily at the beginning of the fixed sequences, at which point target images within each valence category had similar normative ratings. On the basis of our own observations and the findings reported by other groups (Anokhin et al, 2006 ; Mormann et al, 2011 ; Sakaki et al, 2012 ; Kuhr et al, 2013 ) we suggest that maximal contrast effects at the beginning of fixed sequences might be a result of shared semantic content of such similarly valenced images. More systematic investigations into contrast effects are needed to determine the conditions that give rise to this specific contextual influence.…”

Interplay between sexual excitation and inhibition: impact on sexual function and neural correlates of erotic stimulus processing in women

“…LPP amplitudes were quantified as mean amplitudes in the temporal window from 400 to 800 ms. Amplitudes were analyzed at a symmetrical parieto-central electrode cluster including electrodes CP1, CP2, P1, and P2. Time window and electrode sites were chosen based on visual inspection of grand average waveforms and in accordance with prior research ( Kuhr et al, 2013 ; Schindler et al, 2020 ). To further verify this selection, correlation analyses were conducted to ensure that chosen electrodes form a homogenous cluster of neural activity.…”

Automaticity of Early Sexual Attention: An Event-Related Potential Study

“…Generally, when sexual images were used in ERP studies, only on rare occasions were the images controlled for other emotional dimensions, such as emotional arousal and emotional valence ( Kuhr et al, 2013 ; van Lankveld & Smulders, 2008 ). Physical image properties such as luminance and complexity can influence visual perception as well as ERPs and should be controlled ( Willenbockel et al, 2010 ).…”