Sex-specific but not sexually explicit: pupillary responses to dressed and naked adults

Abstract

Dilation of the pupils is an indicator of an observer's sexual interest in other people, but it remains unresolved whether this response is strengthened or diminished by sexually explicit material. To address this question, this study compared pupillary responses of heterosexual men and women to naked and dressed portraits of male and female adult film actors. Pupillary responses corresponded with observers' self-reported sexual orientation, such that dilation occurred during the viewing of opposite-sex people, but were comparable for naked and dressed targets. These findings indicate that pupillary responses provide a sex-specific measure, but are not sensitive to sexually explicit content.

Pupillary Responses to Static Images of Men and Women: A Possible Measure of Sexual Interest?

“…In two experiments, they showed the greatest pupil response to images of women for both heterosexual men and heterosexual women. However, in a later study (Attard-Johnson & Bindemann, 2017) they reported that pupil dilation was commensurate with stated sexual interest and was unaffected by the erotic content of the image. Clearly, these results contradict (some) of the present results.…”

Beyond Self-Report: A Review of Physiological and Neuroscientific Methods to Investigate Consumer Behavior

“…In consumer science, various studies have reported increases in pupil size in response to stimuli and experiences that evoke strong interest and emotions in consumers, such as when consumers listen to music that they experience as enjoyable and emotion-evoking ( Laeng et al, 2016 ) or when viewing human faces ( Blackburn and Schirillo, 2012 ) or art that are experienced as aesthetically pleasant ( Johnson et al, 2010 ). Increases in pupil size also allow researchers to differentiate consumers based on their interests, for instance, pupillary increases in response to (erotic) images of female and male models correspond with the sexual orientation of observers ( Rieger and Savin-Williams, 2012 ; Attard-Johnson and Bindemann, 2017 ; Watts et al, 2017 ) and impulsive, but not non-impulsive, buyers display enhanced pupil dilation when they are presented with shopping scenes ( Serfas et al, 2014 ). Pupillary measures are thus useful to measure whether products, experiences or people evoke interest and emotional reactions and arousal in consumers.…”

A Comparison of Sexual Arousal in Men Exposed to Visual Stimuli With and Without Facial Blurring

“…This study further demonstrated pupillary dilation in response to viewing the chest and pelvic regions, suggesting that the participants were more aroused by these regions. Attard-Johnson and Bindemann (2017) found that when viewing clothed subjects, nude subjects, and nude subjects with both chest and genitals blurred, men viewed the faces longest for all three image types, but spent more time viewing the chest and pelvic region when the model was nude.…”

“…Eye-tracking studies have previously demonstrated that when viewing slides of models, men focus first and longest on faces compared with other body parts (Attard-Johnson & Bindemann, 2017; Hall et al, 2011; Nummenmaa et al, 2012). Gaze preference toward faces was also shown in men with pedophilia compared with healthy controls (Fromberger et al, 2013).…”

“…This method of examining preference operates on the assumption that participants look longer at stimuli depicting models that they find attractive or arousing. Several studies showed that when viewing slides of models, men generally focus on faces first and for the longest amount of time compared with other body parts (Attard-Johnson & Bindemann, 2017; Hall, Hogue, & Guo, 2011; Nummenmaa, Hietanen, Santtila, & Hyönä, 2012). This finding holds in still images of men, women, and children (Fromberger et al, 2013; Hall et al, 2011; Nummenmaa et al, 2012; Rupp & Wallen, 2007).…”