Abstract
While previous research has argued that neuroticism is a vulnerability factor for the experience of sexual difficulties, the basic cognitive processes associated with the impact of such a personality trait on the processing of sexually explicit stimuli are less understood. The current study examined the influence of neuroticism on the attentional processes and its neurophysiological correlates during the perception of sexual and non-sexual images. Event-related potentials from 30 women and 28 men were recorded during a modified oddball paradigm in which participants of both sexes visualized stimuli from three different categories (sexual, non-sexual positive, and non-sexual negative), and two arousal levels (high and low arousal). A P1 latency effect was found for female participants, in which high neuroticism was associated with longer latencies for pornographic compared to romantic sexual images. Higher levels of neuroticism were also associated with higher P3 amplitudes for highly arousing images, with both sexual and non-sexual content. Results were interpreted in light of the information processing model of sexual arousal and showed that neuroticism seems to impact both automatic and conscious pathways of processing of sexual stimuli.
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Notes
Left-handers were excluded in order to reduce variance in the data due to possible interhemispheric amplitude asymmetries.
EROSimag/UPUA.pt stimuli: Sexual and highly arousing (71, 93, 127, 133, 139, 145, 155, 157, 160, 161, 163, 166, 169, 173, 175, 179); Sexual and low arousing (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 14, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 43, 57).
IAPS stimuli: Non-sexual positive and highly arousing (5621, 5629, 8030, 8034, 8080, 8178, 8180, 8185, 8186, 8190, 8200, 8300, 8370, 8400, 8490); Non-sexual positive and low arousing (2222, 2299, 2304, 2310, 2339, 2341, 2358, 2387, 2388, 2395, 2510, 2540, 2598, 7325, 8330); Non-sexual negative and highly arousing (3010, 3053, 3060, 3069, 3130, 3170, 3500, 3550, 6250, 6313, 6550, 6560, 9250, 9410, 9635.1); Non-sexual negative and low arousing (2312, 2399, 2455, 2490, 2590, 2718, 2722, 2750, 2753, 6010, 9046, 9190, 9220, 9330, 9331).
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Funding
This research was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) with Grant ref. PTDC / PSI-PCL / 117522 / 2010 to P. N., and by funding from FCT and the POPH/FSE Program with Grant ref. SFRH / BD / 74539 / 2010 to A. P.
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Carrito, M.L., Carvalho, J., Pereira, A. et al. Neuroticism and Attention Toward Sexual and Non-Sexual Images During an Oddball Task: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials. Arch Sex Behav 50, 2517–2529 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-01961-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-01961-6