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Dewitte M, Meulders A. Fear Learning in Genital Pain: Toward a Biopsychosocial, Ecologically Valid Research and Treatment Model. JOURNAL OF SEX RESEARCH 2023; 60:768-785. [PMID: 36648251 DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2022.2164242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Although fear learning mechanisms are implicated in the development, maintenance, exacerbation, and reduction of genital pain, systematic research on how fear of genital pain emerges, spreads, persists, and reemerges after treatment is lacking. This paper provides an overview of the literature on pain-related fear, integrates the ideas on learning and sexual arousal responding, and specifies the pathways through which compromised learning may contribute to the development and persistence of genital pain. In order to refine theories of genital pain and optimize treatments, we need to adopt a biopsychosocial framework to pain-related fear learning and uncover potential moderators that shape individual trajectories. This involves examining the role of physiological processes, subjective experiences, as well as partner and relational cues in fear acquisition, excessive generalization and impaired safety learning, extinction of fear, counterconditioning, and return of fear. Recent methodological advances in fear conditioning and sex research are promising to enable more symptom-specific and ecologically valid experimental paradigms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marieke Dewitte
- Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University
| | - Ann Meulders
- Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University
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2
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Schippers EE, Smid WJ, Both S, Smit JH. Excitation Transfer Between Sexual Arousal and Other Emotions in a Community Sample. ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 2022; 51:3905-3918. [PMID: 35471677 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-021-02235-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Revised: 11/12/2021] [Accepted: 11/12/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Excitation transfer, the transfer of arousal from one emotion to another, might be a mechanism in the development of unusual sexual interests. In this pilot study, we investigated whether we could induce excitation transfer between various emotions and sexual arousal in a laboratory setting with 30 male volunteers. We induced low-level sexual arousal in four different emotional states (aggression/dominance, endearment, fear, disgust) and a neutral state. Sexual arousal was measured using penile plethysmography and self-report. Although there was no mean group effect, possibly due to large interindividual variations, 60% of the subjects showed more sexual arousal in response to sexual stimulation in at least one of the emotional states than in the neutral state. Excitation transfer was most prominent with aggression/dominance and least prominent with disgust. Genital excitation transfer was strongly related to lower penile reactivity and to higher self-reported erotophilia. This pilot study paves the way for further research into excitation transfer as a mechanism to increase the salience of stimuli that otherwise would not have been sexual in nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eveline E Schippers
- Forensic Care Specialists, Oudlaan 9, 3515 GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Section Forensic Psychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
| | - Wineke J Smid
- Forensic Care Specialists, Oudlaan 9, 3515 GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Stephanie Both
- Department of Psychosomatic Gynaecology and Sexology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Johannes H Smit
- Department of Research and Innovation, GGZ INGEEST Specialized Mental Health Care, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Amsterdam Public Health, Free University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Peragine DE, Skorska MN, Maxwell JA, Impett EA, VanderLaan DP. A Learning Experience? Enjoyment at Sexual Debut and the Gender Gap in Sexual Desire among Emerging Adults. JOURNAL OF SEX RESEARCH 2022; 59:1092-1109. [PMID: 35081013 DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2022.2027855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Gender differences in experience of first intercourse are among the largest in sexuality research, with women recalling less pleasure and satisfaction than men. This "enjoyment gap" has not been considered in explanations of gender differences in sexual desire. Yet, reinforcement and incentive learning feature prominently in recent models of women's sexual desire, and nonhuman animal models demonstrate their impact at sexual debut. We examined whether women's lower sexual desire is explained by their gender or by gendered experience of enjoyment at sexual debut. Emerging adults (N = 838) provided retrospective accounts of physical (orgasm) and affective (satisfaction) enjoyment at (hetero)sexual debut. We replicated gender differences across behavioral, general, and multidimensional measures of trait sexual desire; however, they were contingent on experience and measurement method. When its cognitive multidimensional properties were appreciated, women's sexual desire varied with experience of orgasm at sexual debut and diverged from men's only when orgasm did not occur. Such effects were not observed for satisfaction, nor for men. Nor did effects of a control event - masturbatory debut - extend beyond solitary sexual desire. Findings underscore the importance of orgasm equality, and suggest its absence at sexual debut may play an unacknowledged role in differentiating sexual desire.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Emily A Impett
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga
| | - Doug P VanderLaan
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga
- Child and Youth Psychiatry, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
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Pawłowska A, Borg C, de Jong PJ, Both S. The effect of differential disgust conditioning and subsequent extinction versus counterconditioning procedures on women's sexual responses to erotic stimuli. Behav Res Ther 2020; 134:103714. [PMID: 32932180 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2020.103714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2020] [Revised: 08/06/2020] [Accepted: 08/19/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Recent theoretical accounts point to disgust as an important factor in the development and persistence of sexual dysfunctions. This study tested if (i) contingent disgust experiences can render initially sexually arousing stimuli disgusting, and (ii) such acquired disgust responses could be best neutralized via a CS-only extinction or a counterconditioning procedure. Participants (N = 74) were exposed to a differential conditioning procedure that was followed by either a CS-only extinction or a counterconditioning procedure. Erotic films served as the CS+/CS-. A disgusting film served as the US. During the extinction procedure, the CS+ was no longer followed by the disgusting US. During counterconditioning the CS+ was paired with positive stimuli. After conditioning, the CS + elicited lower genital arousal and was rated as significantly more disgusting, less pleasant, and less sexually arousing than the CS-. These diminished genital and subjective sexual arousal responses to the CS+ were successfully restored after both the extinction and the counterconditioning procedure, whereas conditioned feelings of disgust and behavioral avoidance persisted. There was no evidence for differential effectiveness of either procedure. Thus, sexual responses can be attenuated by learned sex-disgust associations and restored by extinction and counterconditioning procedures, but conditioned feelings of disgust seem more resistant.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleksandra Pawłowska
- Department of Clinical Psychology & Experimental Psychopathology Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences, University of Groningen Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, 9712, TS Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - Charmaine Borg
- Department of Clinical Psychology & Experimental Psychopathology Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences, University of Groningen Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, 9712, TS Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Peter J de Jong
- Department of Clinical Psychology & Experimental Psychopathology Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences, University of Groningen Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, 9712, TS Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Stephanie Both
- Department of Psychosomatic Gynecology and Sexology, Leiden University Medical Center, Rijnsburgerweg 10, 2333, AA, Leiden, the Netherlands
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Meulders A. Fear in the context of pain: Lessons learned from 100 years of fear conditioning research. Behav Res Ther 2020; 131:103635. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2020.103635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2019] [Revised: 04/20/2020] [Accepted: 04/24/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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Pfaus JG, Quintana GR, Mac Cionnaith CE, Gerson CA, Dubé S, Coria-Avila GA. Conditioning of Sexual Interests and Paraphilias in Humans Is Difficult to See, Virtually Impossible to Test, and Probably Exactly How It Happens: A Comment on Hsu and Bailey (2020). ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 2020; 49:1403-1407. [PMID: 32462414 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-020-01739-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2019] [Revised: 04/30/2020] [Accepted: 05/05/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- James G Pfaus
- Centro de Investigaciones Cerebrales, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, VER, CP 91193, Mexico.
| | - Gonzalo R Quintana
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Conall E Mac Cionnaith
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Christine A Gerson
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Simon Dubé
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Genaro A Coria-Avila
- Centro de Investigaciones Cerebrales, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, VER, CP 91193, Mexico
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Turner D, Wittekind CE, Briken P, Fromberger P, Moritz S, Rettenberger M. Approach and Avoidance Biases Toward Sexual Stimuli and Their Association with the Dual Control Model of Sexual Response in Heterosexual Men. ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 2019; 48:867-880. [PMID: 30238184 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-018-1289-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2017] [Revised: 09/18/2017] [Accepted: 08/06/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Many models of human behavior work in an interaction of a dual system. While one system usually represents controlled and reflective behavioral responses, the other system reflects automatic and impulsive actions. In the impulsive system, positive stimuli initiate approach reactions and negative cues avoidance reactions. Besides stimulus valence, the behavioral response triggered by the impulsive system is influenced by personality (e.g., the propensity to react with approach or avoidance biases in a specific situation). The present study applied a computerized Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT; Rinck & Becker, 2007) to assess automatic behavioral approach and avoidance biases toward sexual and neutral stimuli in heterosexual men (N = 40). Individual AAT-performance was furthermore related to sexual excitation (SES) and the two sexual inhibition factors (SIS1 and SIS2) as proposed by the Dual Control Model of sexual response (Bancroft & Janssen, 2000). Against our hypotheses, participants did not show a stronger approach bias toward sexually preferred (i.e., images of women) than sexually not preferred stimuli (i.e., images of men or children). However, stronger approach biases toward images of women were positively associated with sexual excitation and negatively correlated with sexual inhibition due to a threat of performance failure (SIS1) even after controlling for potential confounds (i.e., general behavioral activation and inhibition). The results support the importance of the influence of dispositional traits measured with the Dual Control Model of sexual response on approach and avoidance biases toward sexually preferred stimuli in heterosexual men.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Turner
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Mainz, Untere Zahlbacherstraße 8, 55131, Mainz, Germany.
- Institute for Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
| | - Charlotte E Wittekind
- Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, LMU, Munich, Germany
- Clinical Neuropsychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Peer Briken
- Institute for Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Peter Fromberger
- Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Forensic Psychiatry, Human Medical Center Georg-August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Steffen Moritz
- Clinical Neuropsychology Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Martin Rettenberger
- Institute for Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
- Centre for Criminology (Kriminologische Zentralstelle - KrimZ), Wiesbaden, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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Wan C, Lalumière ML. Can music cue sexual arousal? THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN SEXUALITY 2017. [DOI: 10.3138/cjhs.2017-0011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The preparation hypothesis posits that women's genital responses (vasocongestion and lubrication) occur automatically in the presence of any sexual stimulus to prevent injuries from sexual activities. It follows that women's genital responses should be easily conditioned to non-sexual cues that reliably predict impending sexual activities. It has been difficult, however, to demonstrate classical conditioning of genital responses in women in the laboratory. In the current study, we used music as an auditory conditioned stimulus (CS) and vignette narrations of consensual sex, non-consensual sex, and neutral (nonsexual) interactions as unconditioned stimuli (US). Eighteen women (range=18–27 years, M=21.9 years, SD=2.2 years,) and 18 men (range=19–29 years, M=22.8 years, SD=2.8 years) were exposed to three neutrally-rated classical music pieces, each paired with a different type of vignette. Participants were exposed to 3 pre-acquisition trials, 12 acquisition trials, and a minimum of 9 extinction trials. After each trial, participants were asked to rate the CS (or the US in CS-US pairings) on pleasantness, anxiousness, and perceived sexual arousal. Vaginal photoplethysmography and penile plethysmography were used to assess changes in genital responses. The sexual vignettes produced genital responses and the nonsexual vignettes did not. We did not observe conditioning of genital responses to music in either sex, but did so for men's and women's feelings of sexual arousal toward songs paired with a consensual sex story. The results were not consistent with the preparation hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cynthia Wan
- School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON
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Hoffmann H. Situating Human Sexual Conditioning. ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 2017; 46:2213-2229. [PMID: 28698969 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-017-1030-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2016] [Revised: 04/09/2017] [Accepted: 06/28/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Conditioning is often thought of as a basic, automatic learning process that has limited applicability to higher-level human behavior. In addition, conditioning is seen as separable from, and even secondary to, "innate" processes. These ideas involve some misconceptions. The aim of this article is to provide a clearer, more refined sense of human sexual conditioning. After providing some background information and reviewing what is known from laboratory conditioning studies, human sexual conditioning is compared to sexual conditioning in nonhumans, to "innate" sexual responding, and to other types of human learning processes. Recommendations for moving forward in human sexual conditioning research are included.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather Hoffmann
- Department of Psychology, Knox College, Galesburg, IL, 61401, USA.
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The effect of a dopamine antagonist on conditioning of sexual arousal in women. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2016; 233:1179-89. [PMID: 26832339 PMCID: PMC4801988 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-015-4201-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2015] [Accepted: 12/21/2015] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE Dopamine (DA) plays a key role in reward-seeking behaviours. Accumulating evidence from animal and human studies suggests that human sexual reward learning may also depend on DA transmission. However, research on the role of DA in human sexual reward learning is completely lacking. OBJECTIVES To investigate whether DA antagonism attenuates classical conditioning of sexual response in humans. METHODS Healthy women were randomly allocated to one of two treatment conditions: haloperidol (n = 29) or placebo (n = 29). A differential conditioning paradigm was applied with genital vibrostimulation as unconditional stimulus (US) and neutral pictures as conditional stimuli (CSs). Genital arousal was assessed, and ratings of affective value and subjective sexual arousal were obtained. RESULTS Haloperidol administration affected unconditional genital responding. However, no significant effects of medication were found for conditioned responding. CONCLUSIONS No firm conclusions can be drawn about whether female sexual reward learning implicates DA transmission since the results do not lend themselves to unambiguous interpretation.
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