Brunetti M, Babiloni C, Ferretti A, Del Gratta C, Merla A, Olivetti Belardinelli M, Romani G L
Department of Clinical Sciences and Biomedical Imaging; Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies, University G. D'Annunzio of Chieti, Chieti (CH), Italy.
Eur J Neurosci. 2008 Jun;27(11):2922-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2008.06241.x.
In a recent functional magnetic resonance imaging study, a complex neural circuit was shown to be involved in human males during sexual arousal [A. Ferretti et al. (2005) Neuroimage, 26, 1086]. At group level, there was a specific correlation between penile erection and activations in anterior cingulate, insula, amygdala, hypothalamus and secondary somatosensory regions. However, it is well known that there are remarkable inter-individual differences in the psychological view and attitude to sex of human males. Therefore, a crucial issue is the relationship among cerebral responses, sexual arousal and psychosexual identity at individual level. To address this issue, 18 healthy male subjects were recruited. Their deep sexual identity (DSI) was assessed following the construct revalidation by M. Olivetti Belardinelli [(1994) Sci. Contrib. Gen. Psychol., 11, 131] of the Franck drawing completion test, a projective test providing, according to this revalidation, quantitative scores on 'accordance/non-accordance' between self-reported and psychological sexual identity. Cerebral activity was evaluated by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging during hard-core erotic movies and sport movies. Results showed a statistically significant positive correlation between the blood oxygen level-dependent signal in bilateral hypothalamus and the Franck drawing completion test score during erotic movies. The higher the blood oxygen level-dependent activation in bilateral hypothalamus, the higher the male DSI profile. These results suggest that, in male subjects, inter-individual differences in the DSI are strongly correlated with blood flow to the bilateral hypothalamus, a dimorphic brain region deeply implicated in instinctual drives including reproduction.
在最近一项功能磁共振成像研究中，一个复杂的神经回路被证明在男性性唤起过程中发挥作用[A. 费雷蒂等人（2005年）《神经影像学》，26卷，第1086页]。在群体水平上，阴茎勃起与前扣带回、脑岛、杏仁核、下丘脑和次级体感区域的激活之间存在特定的相关性。然而，众所周知，男性在对性的心理观点和态度上存在显著的个体差异。因此，一个关键问题是个体层面上大脑反应、性唤起和性心理认同之间的关系。为了解决这个问题，招募了18名健康男性受试者。他们的深度性认同（DSI）通过M. 奥利维蒂·贝拉尔迪内利对弗兰克绘画完成测试进行结构重新验证后进行评估[（1994年）《普通心理学科学贡献》，11卷，第131页]，这是一种投射测试，根据这种重新验证，可以提供关于自我报告的和心理性认同之间“一致/不一致”的定量分数。在观看色情电影和体育电影期间，通过功能磁共振成像评估大脑活动。结果显示，在观看色情电影期间，双侧下丘脑的血氧水平依赖信号与弗兰克绘画完成测试分数之间存在统计学上显著的正相关。双侧下丘脑的血氧水平依赖激活越高，男性的DSI特征越高。这些结果表明，在男性受试者中，DSI的个体差异与双侧下丘脑的血流密切相关，双侧下丘脑是一个与包括生殖在内的本能驱动密切相关的两性异形脑区。
