Department of Clinical Psychophysiology, Institute of Psychobiology, University of Trier, Trier, Germany.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité University Medical Center, Berlin, Germany.
Psychophysiology. 2017 Oct;54(10):1444-1458. doi: 10.1111/psyp.12901. Epub 2017 May 31.
The early processing of visual sexual stimuli shows signs of automaticity. Moreover, there is evidence for sex-specific patterns in cognitive and physiological responding to erotica. However, little is known about the time course of rapid pupillary responses to sexual stimuli and their correspondence with other measures of autonomic activity in women and men. To study pupil dilation as an implicit measure of sexual arousal at various stages of picture processing, we presented 35 heterosexual participants with pictures showing either erotic couples or single (male/female) erotic nudes, contrasted with people involved in everyday situations. Brightness-adjusted grayscale pictures were shown for a duration of 2,500 ms within the central visual field, alternating with perceptually matched patches. Left pupil diameter was recorded at 500 Hz using a video-based eye tracker. Skin conductance and heart rate were coregistered and correlated with latent components of pupil dilation (dissociated by temporal PCA). Whereas stimulus-evoked changes in pupil size indicated virtually no initial constriction, a rapid effect of appetence emerged (dilation to erotica within 500 ms). Responses at early stages of processing were remarkably consistent across both sexes. In contrast, later phases of pupil dilation, subjective ratings, and skin conductance responses showed a sex-specific pattern. Moreover, evidence for an association of early-onset pupil dilation and heart rate acceleration was found, suggestive of parasympathetic inhibition, whereas the late component was mainly related to sympathetically mediated skin conductance. Taken together, our results indicate that different temporal components of pupil responses to erotic stimuli may reflect divergent underlying neural mechanisms.
视觉性刺激的早期加工表现出自动加工的迹象。此外，有证据表明，在认知和对色情内容的生理反应方面存在性别特异性模式。然而，对于性刺激的快速瞳孔反应的时程及其与女性和男性自主活动的其他测量指标的对应关系知之甚少。为了研究瞳孔扩张作为性唤起的一种内隐测量，在图片处理的不同阶段，我们向 35 名异性恋参与者展示了展示色情情侣或单一（男/女）色情裸体的图片，与参与日常情况的人形成对比。在中央视觉场中以 2500 毫秒的时长显示亮度调整的灰度图片，与感知匹配的补丁交替。使用基于视频的眼动追踪器以 500 Hz 的频率记录左眼瞳孔直径。皮肤电导和心率与瞳孔扩张的潜在成分（通过时间 PCA 分离）相关联并进行了核心注册。尽管瞳孔大小的刺激诱发变化几乎没有最初的收缩，但食欲的快速作用出现了（在 500 毫秒内对色情内容扩张）。处理的早期阶段的反应在两性之间非常一致。相比之下，瞳孔扩张的后期阶段、主观评分和皮肤电导反应表现出性别特异性模式。此外，还发现了早期瞳孔扩张和心率加速之间关联的证据，提示副交感神经抑制，而晚期成分主要与交感神经介导的皮肤电导有关。总之，我们的结果表明，对色情刺激的瞳孔反应的不同时间成分可能反映了不同的潜在神经机制。
