ABSTRACT

Attention is a key mechanism underlying many aspects of sexuality, with eye-tracking studies revealing that attention is both sustained by sexual stimuli and corresponds with sexual interest. Despite its utility, eye-tracking experiments typically require specialized equipment and are conducted in a laboratory setting. The overarching objective of this research was to assess the utility of a novel online method, MouseView.js, for assessing attentional processing of sexual stimuli outside of a laboratory context. MouseView.js is an open-source, web-based application where the display is blurred to mimic peripheral vision and an aperture is directed using a mouse cursor to fixate on regions of interest within the display. Using a discovery (Study 1, n = 239) and replication (Study 2, n = 483) design, we examined attentional biases to sexual stimuli among two diverse samples with respect to gender/sex and sexual orientation. Results revealed strong attentional biases toward processing sexual stimuli relative to nonsexual stimuli, as well as dwell times that correlated with self-report sexuality measures. Results mirror those observed for laboratory-based eye-tracking research, but using a freely available instrument that mirrors gaze tracking. MouseView.js offers important advantages to traditional eye-tracking methods, including the ability to recruit larger and more diverse samples, and minimizes volunteer biases.

摘要

注意力是性行为许多方面的关键机制，眼球追踪研究表明，注意力既由性刺激维持，又与性兴趣相对应。尽管它很实用，但眼球追踪实验通常需要专门的设备，并且是在实验室环境中进行的。这项研究的首要目标是评估一种新颖的在线方法 MouseView.js 在实验室环境之外评估性刺激的注意力处理的效用。MouseView.js 是一个基于 Web 的开源应用程序，其中显示模糊以模仿周边视觉，并使用鼠标光标引导光圈以固定显示内的感兴趣区域。使用发现（研究 1，n = 239）和复制（研究 2，n= 483）设计中，我们检查了两个不同样本在性别/性和性取向方面对性刺激的注意偏差。结果显示，相对于非性刺激，人们对处理性刺激有强烈的注意力偏差，并且停留时间与自我报告的性行为测量相关。结果反映了基于实验室的眼球追踪研究观察到的结果，但使用了反映视线追踪的免费仪器。MouseView.js 为传统的眼球追踪方法提供了重要的优势，包括能够招募更大、更多样化的样本，并最大限度地减少志愿者的偏见。