Martynova O, Portnova G, Orlov I
Zh Vyssh Nerv Deiat Im I P Pavlova. 2016 Jan-Feb;66(1):24-35.
According to psychological research erotic images are evaluated in the context of positive emotions as the most intense, most associated with emotional arousal, among the variety of pleasant and unpleasant stimuli. However it is difficult to separate areas of the brain that are related to the general emotional process from the activity of the brain areas involved in neuronal representations of reward system. The purpose of this study was to determine differences in the brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in male subjects in evaluating an intensity of pleasant images, including erotic, or unpleasant and neutral pictures. When comparing the condition with evaluation of the pleasant erotic images with conditions containing neutral or unpleasant stimuli, a significant activation was observed in the posterior cingulate cortex; the prefrontal cortex and the right globus pallidus. An increased activity of the right anterior central gyrus was observed in the conditions related to evaluation of pleasant and neutral stimuli. Thus, in the process of evaluating the intensity of emotional images of an erotic nature the active brain areas were related not only to neuronal representations of emotions, but also to motivations and control system of emotional arousal, which should be taken into account while using erotic pictures as intensive positive emotional stimuli.
根据心理学研究，在各种愉悦和不悦的刺激中，色情图片在积极情绪的背景下被评估为最强烈、与情绪唤起关联最大的。然而，要将与一般情绪过程相关的脑区活动与参与奖励系统神经元表征的脑区活动区分开来是困难的。本研究的目的是使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）来确定男性受试者在评估包括色情图片在内的愉悦图片、不悦图片和中性图片的强度时大脑活动的差异。当将评估愉悦色情图片的情况与包含中性或不悦刺激的情况进行比较时，在后扣带回皮质、前额叶皮质和右侧苍白球观察到显著激活。在与评估愉悦和中性刺激相关的情况下，观察到右侧中央前回的活动增加。因此，在评估具有色情性质的情绪图片强度的过程中，活跃的脑区不仅与情绪的神经元表征有关，还与情绪唤起的动机和控制系统有关，在将色情图片用作强烈的积极情绪刺激时应考虑到这一点。
