Measuring sexual interest using a pictorial modified Stroop task, a pictorial Implicit Association Test and a Choice Reaction Time task

Abstract

Tasks that can measure sexual interest successfully have utility in forensic settings. Prior to use with problematic sexual interest, however, work is needed in validating such tasks. This study focused on the measurement of non-deviant sexual interest. Eleven gay and 14 straight participants each completed a pictorial Implicit Association Test (IAT), a pictorial modified Stroop task (P-MST) and a Choice Reaction Time (CRT) task. Each task was designed to tap into the sexual interest of participants. Stimuli were of males and females in bathing suits, along with control images and sexual and non-sexual words. The IAT was most successful in differentiating between gay and straight participants. The P-MST also performed well, although the task's position within the battery of tasks seemed to affect the results. The CRT task did not show group differences successfully. Theoretical and methodological implications of the effectiveness of the three tasks in tapping into sexual interest are discussed.

Keywords:

• Choice Reaction Time task
• Implicit Association Test
• indirect measures
• pictorial modified Stroop task
• sexual interest

Notes

1. Degrees of freedom were adjusted using Greenhouse–Geisser estimates of sphericity (ϵ=.698) because Mauchly's test of sphericity indicated that sphericity could not be assumed, χ2₍₂₎=12.464, p=.002.