Focusing "Hot" or Focusing "Cool": Attentional Mechanisms in Sexual Arousal in Men and Women

Journal of Sexual Medicine

Volumn 8, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 167-179

  Both, Stephanie ^a   Laan, Ellen ^b   Everaerd, Walter ^b  

^a LEIDEN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER   (Netherlands)

^b UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

Attention; Emotion regulation; Habituation; Sexual arousal; Sexual response; Vaginal photoplethysmography

Indexed keywords

ADULT; ARTICLE; ATTENTION; CONTROLLED STUDY; EMOTIONALITY; FEMALE; HABITUATION; HUMAN; MALE; NORMAL HUMAN; OUTCOME ASSESSMENT; PENIS; PHOTOELECTRIC PLETHYSMOGRAPHY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SEXUAL AROUSAL; SEXUAL BEHAVIOR; SEXUALITY;

EID: 78650794217     PISSN: 17436095     EISSN: 17436109     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.02051.x     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Ochsner KN, Gross JJ. The cognitive control of emotion. Trends Cogn Sci 2005;9:242-9.
2. Everaerd W. Commentary on sex research: Sex as an emotion. J Psychol Human Sex 1988;2:3-15.
3. Masters WH, Johnson VE. Human sexual inadequacy. Boston: Little Brown; 1970.
4. Barlow DH. Causes of sexual dysfunction: The role of anxiety and cognitive interference. J Consult Clin Psychol 1986;54:140-8.
5. Geer JH, Fuhr R. Cognitive factors in sexual arousal: The role of distraction. J Consult Clin Psychol 1976;44:238-43.
6. Salemink E, van Lankveld JJ. The effects of increasing neutral distraction on sexual responding of women with and without sexual problems. Arch Sex Behav 2006;35:179-90.
7. van Lankveld JJ, van den Hout MA. Increasing neutral distraction inhibits genital but not subjective sexual arousal of sexually functional and dysfunctional men. Arch Sex Behav 2004;33:549-58.
8. Lang PJ. Presidential address, 1978. A bio-informational theory of emotional imagery 944. Psychophysiology 1979;16:495-512.
9. Lang PJ, Kozak MJ, Miller GA, Levin DN, McLean A, Jr. Emotional imagery: Conceptual structure and pattern of somato-visceral response 943. Psychophysiology 1980;17:179-92.
10. Metcalfe J, Mischel W. A hot/cool-system analysis of delay of gratification: Dynamics of willpower. Psychol Rev 1999;106:3-19.
11. Ayduk O, Mischel W, Downey G. Attentional mechanisms linking rejection to hostile reactivity: The role of "hot" versus "cool" focus. Psychol Sci 2002;13:443-8.
12. Dekker J, Everaerd W, Verhelst N. Attending to stimuli or to images of sexual feelings: Effects on sexual arousal. Behav Res Ther 1985;23:139-49.
13. Sheen J, Koukounas E. The role of absorption in women's sexual response to erotica: A cognitive-affective investigation. J Sex Res 2009;27:1-8.
14. Koukounas E, Over R. Habituation of male sexual arousal: Effects of attentional focus. Biol Psychol 2001;58:49-64.
15. Janssen E, Carpenter D, Graham CA. Selecting films for sex research: Gender differences in erotic film preference. Arch Sex Behav 2003;32:243-51.
16. Mook DG. Motivation: The organization of action. 2nd edition. New York\London: Norton & Company; 1996.
17. Koukounas E, Over R. Habituation and dishabituation of male sexual arousal. Behav Res Ther 1993;31:575-85.
18. Koukounas E, Over R. Allocation of attentional resources during habituation and dishabituation of male sexual arousal. Arch Sex Behav 1999;28:539-52.
19. O'Donohue WT, Geer JH. The habituation of sexual arousal. Arch Sex Behav 1985;14:233-46.
20. O'Donohue W, Plaud JJ. The long-term habituation of sexual arousal in the human male. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 1991;22:87-96.
21. Meuwissen I, Over R. Habituation and dishabituation of female sexual arousal. Behav Res Ther 1990;28:217-26.
22. Laan E, Everaerd W. Habituation of female sexual arousal to slides and film 33. Arch Sex Behav 1995;24:517-41.
23. Dekker J, Everaerd W. Attentional effects on sexual arousal. Psychophysiology 1988;25:45-54.
24. Laan E, Everaerd W, Vanbellen G, Hanewald G. Women's sexual and emotional responses to male-produced and female-produced erotica 37. Arch Sex Behav 1994;23:153-69.
25. Both S, Spiering M, Everaerd W, Laan E. Sexual behavior and responsiveness to sexual stimuli following laboratory-induced sexual arousal. J Sex Res 2004;41:242-58.
26. Both S, Everaerd W, Laan E, Gooren L. Effect of a single dose of levodopa on sexual response in men and women. Neuropsychopharmacology 2005;30:173-83.
27. Both S, Everaerd W, Laan E. Modulation of spinal reflexes by aversive and sexually appetitive stimuli. Psychophysiology 2003;40:174-83.
28. Geer JH, Janssen E. The sexual response system. In: Cacioppo J, Tassinary L, Berntson G, eds. Handbook of psychophysiology. New York: Cambridge University Press; 2000:315-41.
29. Stern RM, Sison CCE. Response patterning. In: Cacioppo J, Tassinary L, eds. Principles of psychophysiology. Cambridge: University press; 1990:193-215.
30. Klusmann D. Sexual motivation and the duration of partnership. Arch Sex Behav 2002;31:275-87.
31. Impett EA, Peplau LA. Sexual compliance: Gender, motivational, and relationship perspectives. J Sex Res 2003;40:87-100.
32. Dennerstein L, Lehert P, Burger H. The relative effects of hormones and relationship factors on sexual function of women through the natural menopausal transition. Fertil Steril 2005;84:174-80.
33. Spiering M, Everaerd W, Janssen E. Priming the sexual system: Implicit versus explicit activation. J Sex Res 2003;40:134-45.
34. Spiering M, Everaerd W. The sexual unconscious. In: Janssen E, ed. The psychophysiology of sex. Bloomington: Indiana University Press; 2007:166-84.
35. Janssen E, Everaerd W, Spiering M, Janssen J. Automatic cognitive processes and the apraissal of sexual stimuli: Towards an information processing model of sexual arousal. J Sex Res 2000;37:8-23.
36. Singer B, Toates FM. Sexual motivation. J Sex Res 1987;23:481-501.
37. Basson R, Leiblum S, Brotto L, Derogatis L, Fourcroy J, Fugl-Meyer K, Graziottin A, Heiman JR, Laan E, Meston C, Schover L, van Lankveld J, Schultz WW. Revised definitions of women's sexual dysfunction. J Sex Med 2004;1:40-8.
38. Laan E, van Driel EM, van Lunsen RH. Genital responsiveness in healthy women with and without sexual arousal disorder. J Sex Med 2008;5:1424-35.
39. Laan E, Everaerd W, Both S. Female sexual arousal disorders. In: Balon R, Segraves RT, eds. Handbook of sexual dysfunction.Boca Raton: Taylor and Francis; 2005:123-54.
40. Brotto LA, Basson R, Luria M. A mindfulness-based group psychoeducational intervention targeting sexual arousal disorder in women. J Sex Med 2008;5:1646-59.
41. Gross JJ. Emotion regulation: Affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology 2002;39:281-91.
42. Goldin PR, McRae K, Ramel W, Gross JJ. The neural bases of emotion regulation: Reappraisal and suppression of negative emotion. Biol Psychiatry 2008;63:577-86.
43. Winters J, Christoff K, Gorzalka BB. Conscious Regulation of sexual arousal in men. J Sex Res 2009;6:1-14.
44. Drabant EM, McRae K, Manuck SB, Hariri AR, Gross JJ. Individual differences in typical reappraisal use predict amygdala and prefrontal responses. Biol Psychiatry 2009;65:367-73.
45. Beauregard M, Levesque J, Bourgouin P. Neural correlates of conscious self-regulation of emotion 472. J Neurosci 2001;21:RC165.
46. Kim SH, Hamann S. Neural correlates of positive and negative emotion regulation. J Cogn Neurosci 2007;19:776-98.
47. Reifler CB, Howard J, Lipton MA, Liptzin MB, Widmann DE. Pornography: An experimental study of effects. Am J Psychiatry 1971;128:575-82.