Discriminative control of the vaginal vasomotor response.

With use of a discriminative control procedure and operant techniques, women significantly increased their vaginal pulse amplitude (produced vaginal vasodilation) but did not significantly decrease vaginal pulse amplitude (produce vaginal vasoconstriction). Acquisition of vaginal pulse amplitude control was rapid with no significant improvement over trials or the 5 experimental days. Specificity of vaginal pulse amplitude control occurred in relation to the other vasomotor responses, including vaginal blood volume and digital pulse amplitude. Vagnial pulse amplitude changes were not related to somatic-muscular, respiratory, or heart-rate changes. Women who used oral contraceptives were better able to control vaginal pulse amplitude than women who used other forms of birth control. Although the sexual behavior of these two groups and did not differ, women in the latter group tended to be more clitorally oriented.