Sexual desire, not hypersexuality, is related to neurophysiological responses elicited by sexual images

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of sample (N =52)

Demographic	Mean (SD)
Age	24.35 (4.92)
Group	Frequency	% of sample
Ethnicity
White	45	86.5
Asian	1	1.9
Hispanic	4	7.7
Native American	2	3.8
Relationship status
Exclusive	28	53.8
Nonexclusive	12	23.1
Not in relationship	11	21.2
No answer	1	1.9
Sexual behavior with partner (past month)
Not once	5	9.6
Once a month	2	3.8
Several times a month	6	11.5
Once or twice a week	11	21.2
Several times a week	22	42.3
At least once a day	6	11.5
Different sexual partners (past year)
0	1	1.9
1	25	48.1
2–5	16	30.8
6–10	6	11.5
11–20	3	5.8
No answer	1	1.9

Table 2 Trait measures

Scales mean (SD)	Male mean (SD)	Female mean (SD)
Pornography Consumption Effects Scale
Total (PCES)	49.58	(15.78)	52.08	(16.36)	42.08	(11.37)
Sexual Compulsivity Scale (SCS)	22.00	(5.71)	22.31	(6.05)	21.08	(4.63)
Cognitive and Behavioral Outcomes of Sexual Behavior Questionnaire (CBOSB)
Behavioral	27.87	(2.63)	28.03	(2.66)	27.38	(2.60)
Cognitive	33.98	(7.35)	34.21	(8.08)	33.31	(4.71)
Sexual Desire Inventory (SDI)
Dyadic	58.00	(7.68)	57.44	(8.17)	59.69	(5.98)
Solitary	23.92	(7.61)	23.08	(7.26)	26.46	(8.36)

Note. PCES scores assess the negative effects reported from viewing VSS (range=1–7). SCS measures compulsive traits linked to difficulty resisting sexual behaviors (range=10–40). The CBOSB measures the extent to which individuals are concerned about possible consequences of their sexual behaviors (cognitive, range=20–80) or had actually experienced negative outcomes from their sexual behaviors (behavioral, range=20–40). SDI scores indicate the level of desire to engage in solitary sexual activities (range=3–26) as well as sexual activities with a partner (range=8–70).

Fig. 1 (a) Stimulus-locked ERP waveforms (amplitudes in µV, time in ms) plotted at CPz to each unpleasant (red line), pleasant–nonsexual (blue line), pleasant–sexual (IAPS only, green line), pleasant–sexual (erotic images only, green dashed line), and neutral (black line). For illustration, the two types of pleasant–sexual stimuli are each plotted though they are averaged together for statistical comparisons. (b) Topographical difference (color heads) and statistical (black and white heads) head maps are presented. Difference and statistical head maps are plotted for each simple-effect between experimental conditions for the P300 component window.

Fig. 2 An ERP difference score, plotted at CPz, between pleasant–sexual and neutral stimuli plotted against the measure of sexual desire (dyadic).

Fig. 3 A scatter plot depicting the relationship between P300 amplitude to neutral stimuli, P300 amplitude to pleasant–sexual stimuli, and the measure of sexual desire (dyadic).