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We investigated the impact of sexual stimuli and the influence of sexual motivation on the performance in a dot-probe task and a line-orientation task in a large sample of males and females. All pictures (neutral, erotic) were rated on the dimensions of valence, arousal, disgust, and sexual arousal. Additionally, questionnaires measuring sexual interest/desire/motivation were employed. The ratings of the sexual stimuli point to a successful picture selection because sexual arousal did not differ between the sexes. The stimuli were equally arousing for men and women. Higher scores in the employed questionnaires measuring sexual interest/desire/motivation led to higher sexual arousal ratings of the sex pictures. Attentional bias towards sex pictures was observed in both experimental tasks. The attentional biases measured by the dot-probe and the line-orientation task were moderately intercorrelated suggesting attentional bias as a possible marker for a sex-attention trait. Finally, only the sexual sensation seeking score correlated with the attentional biases of the two tasks. Future research is needed to increase the predictive power of these indirect measures of sexual interest.
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BACKGROUND: Current models suggest that a variation in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) is associated with altered amygdala reactivity not only towards negative but also towards positive stimuli, which has been neglected in the past. This association may possibly convey an elevated vulnerability for psychopathology like abuse, craving, and relapses. Since appetitive conditioning is a crucial mechanism in the pathogenesis of these psychiatric disorders, the identification of specific factors contributing to interindividual variation is important. METHODS: In the present study (N = 86), an appetitive conditioning paradigm was conducted, in which a neutral stimulus (CS+) was associated with appetitive stimuli, while a second stimulus (CS-) predicted their absence. Subjects were genotyped according to the 5-HTTLPR genotype. RESULTS: As the main result, we report a significant association between the 5-HTTLPR genotype and hemodynamic responses. Individuals with the s-allele displayed elevated conditioned bilateral amygdala activity in contrast to l/l-allele carriers. Further, increased hemodynamic responses in s-allele carriers were also found in the extended emotional network including the orbitofrontal cortex, the thalamus, and the ventral striatum. CONCLUSION: The present findings indicate an association of the 5-HTTLPR and altered conditioned responses in appetitive conditioning. Further, the findings contribute to the ongoing debate on 5-HTTLPR dependent hemodynamic response patterns by emphasizing that s-allele carriers are not exclusively biased towards fearful, but also towards positive stimuli. In conclusion, our results imply that s-allele carriers might be better described as hyper-reactive towards salient stimuli, which may convey vulnerability for the development of psychiatric disorders.
Erkunden
Team
- Vaitl (2)
Eintragsart
Sprache
Thema
- Erotica
- 5-HTTLPR (1)
- Adult (2)
- Alleles (1)
- amygdala (1)
- Amygdala/physiology (1)
- Appetitive Behavior/*physiology (1)
- *Arousal (1)
- *Attention (1)
- *Brain Mapping (1)
- Cerebral Cortex/physiology (1)
- *Cerebrovascular Circulation (1)
- classical conditioning (1)
- Conditioning, Operant/physiology (1)
- Corpus Striatum/physiology (1)
- *Echo-Planar Imaging (1)
- Female (2)
- fMRI (1)
- Frontal Lobe/physiology (1)
- Galvanic Skin Response (1)
- Genotype (1)
- Gyrus Cinguli/physiology (1)
- Hemodynamics (1)
- Humans (2)
- imaging genetics (1)
- *INDEL Mutation (1)
- Individuality (1)
- Male (2)
- Photic Stimulation (1)
- positive emotion (1)
- Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins/genetics/*physiology (1)
- *Sexual Behavior (1)
- Sexual Behavior/*physiology (1)
- Thalamus/physiology (1)
- Young Adult (1)