Mouras H, Stoléru S, Moulier V, Pélégrini-Issac M, Rouxel R, Grandjean B, Glutron D, Bittoun J
Inserm, U742, 9 quai Saint Bernard, F-75005 Paris, France.
Neuroimage. 2008 Sep 1;42(3):1142-50. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.05.051. Epub 2008 Jun 6.
Although visually-induced erection is a common occurrence in human male behaviour, the cerebral underpinnings of this response are not well-known. We hypothesized that the magnitude of induced erection would be linearly correlated with the activation of the mirror-neuron system in response to sexually explicit films. When presented with sexual video clips, eight out of ten healthy subjects had an erectile response demonstrated through volumetric penile plethysmography. The level of activation of the left frontal operculum and of the inferior parietal lobules, areas which contain mirror neurons, predicted the magnitude of the erectile response. These results suggest that the response of the mirror-neuron system may not only code for the motor correlates of observed actions, but also for autonomic correlates of these actions.
虽然视觉诱发勃起在人类男性行为中很常见，但这种反应的大脑基础尚不清楚。我们假设诱发勃起的程度与镜像神经元系统对色情影片的反应激活呈线性相关。当观看性视频片段时，十名健康受试者中有八名通过阴茎体积描记法表现出勃起反应。左额下回和顶下小叶（包含镜像神经元的区域）的激活水平预测了勃起反应的程度。这些结果表明，镜像神经元系统的反应可能不仅编码观察到的动作的运动相关性，还编码这些动作的自主相关性。
