School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, 136 Jean-Jacques Lussier, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada.
The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Arch Sex Behav. 2021 Nov;50(8):3865-3888. doi: 10.1007/s10508-021-02069-7. Epub 2021 Jun 18.
Forty years ago, researchers documented changes in vascular and muscular activity within the anal canal of women and men who engaged in sexual self-stimulation. Vascular changes were assessed using a photoplethysmograph that aimed to detect changes in pelvic vasocongestion. An important advantage of detecting sexual response within the anal canal is that the device, its anatomical placement, and the data output are identical for women and men, therefore facilitating gender comparisons of response patterns. In this study, the vaginal photoplethysmograph (VPP), the most common measure of genital response in women, was administered intra-anally as an anal photoplethysmograph (APG) to examine its validity and sensitivity as an indicator of sexual response. The final sample comprised 20 women and 20 men who were exposed to 12, 90-s sexual and nonsexual film clips while their APG responses were recorded. Participants also rated their sexual arousal and affective responses to the stimuli. There was evidence that APG responses were specific to sexual stimuli and were sensitive to erotic intensity in women. The degree of discrimination between sexual and nonsexual stimuli was lower in men. Unlike most sexual psychophysiological studies, the positive correlation between physiological and self-reported sexual arousal was stronger in women than in men. There was a relatively high number of data artifacts and the waveform morphology was uncharacteristic of that typically observed with VPP. The potential role of anal musculature interference on the APG signal is discussed, as well as avenues for future research.
四十年前，研究人员记录了进行性自慰的女性和男性肛门内血管和肌肉活动的变化。使用光体积描记仪评估血管变化，旨在检测骨盆血管充血的变化。在肛门内检测性反应的一个重要优势是，该设备、其解剖位置和数据输出对于女性和男性都是相同的，因此有利于对反应模式进行性别比较。在这项研究中，阴道光体积描记仪（VPP），是女性生殖器反应最常用的测量方法，被作为肛门光体积描记仪（APG）进行内肛门给药，以检查其作为性反应指标的有效性和敏感性。最终样本包括 20 名女性和 20 名男性，他们观看了 12 个 90 秒的性和非性电影片段，同时记录他们的 APG 反应。参与者还对他们对刺激的性唤起和情感反应进行了评分。有证据表明，APG 反应是特定于性刺激的，并且对女性的色情强度敏感。在男性中，性刺激和非性刺激之间的区分程度较低。与大多数性心理生理学研究不同，女性的生理和自我报告的性唤起之间的正相关比男性更强。数据伪影的数量相对较多，并且波形形态与通常观察到的 VPP 不同。讨论了肛门肌肉干扰对 APG 信号的潜在作用，以及未来研究的途径。
