Attentional Mechanisms Underlying Gendered Sexual Response

性别性反应背后的注意机制

• 批准号: RGPIN-2021-02471
• 负责人: Dawson, Samantha
• 金额: $ 2.77万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=741860
• 关键词: Attentional; Mechanisms; Underlying; Gendered; Sexual

Sexuality is a fundamental aspect of human nature. Contemporary theories of sexuality assume that men and women are similar in their sexual response; however, a wealth of empirical evidence suggests that this assumption is incorrect. There are two well-replicated, but perplexing, differences in men's and women's sexual response patterns. The first is that compared to men, women's sexual response is activated by a much broader array of sexual stimuli. The second being that the strength of coherence between physiological and psychological arousal is much weaker among women than men, with women exhibiting almost a mind-body disconnect. Although these gender differences in sexual outcomes are well-established, we lack understanding of the mechanisms underlying how these different patterns arise. Theoretical models situate attention as a key mechanism for sexual response, yet direct links between attentional processes and sexual response have never been examined empirically. The aim of the proposed research program is to fill this critical gap by examining for the first time how attention exerts its effects on sexual response using a gender/sex lens. The overarching hypothesis is that men and women differ in their attention to sexual stimuli contributing to different patterns of sexual response. To test this, we will bring men and women into the lab and objectively measure their attention, as well as examine the effect of attention on physiological and psychological sexual arousal. We will also investigate whether or not automatic attentional biases elicited by sexual cues can be modified, and how this then impacts sexual response. An additional objective is to refine existing theoretical models by examining a new mechanism-inattention-and its link with sexual response. Together the knowledge created will contribute to the development of an empirically-based model of sexual response that accounts for gender/sex, that ultimately better reflects men's and women's experiences of their sexuality. This research continues a tradition of excellence in sexual science in Canada, providing unique opportunities for HQP to be trained in psychophysiology and sex- and gender-based data analysis (SGBA+). These skills have broad applications in multiple areas of science including psychology, neuroscience, physiology, and medicine. Understanding the mechanisms underlying sexual response will be used to generate empirically-supported models of sexual response that will have direct implications for researchers in sexuality, including those examining other sexually-related phenomena, such as sexual orientation and the assessment and treatment of sexual function problems. Given the centrality of sexuality to people's lives, the impact of this work will extend to all Canadian men and women. Accurate empirical knowledge about gendered sexuality will also help address myriad societal misconceptions about men's and women's sexualities.

性是人性的一个基本方面。现代的性理论假设男人和女人在性反应上是相似的;然而，大量的经验证据表明这个假设是不正确的。在男性和女性的性反应模式中，有两个重复性很好，但令人困惑的差异。首先，与男性相比，女性的性反应是由更广泛的性刺激激活的。第二个是，生理和心理唤醒之间的一致性强度在女性中比男性弱得多，女性几乎表现出身心脱节。虽然这些性结果的性别差异是公认的，但我们缺乏对这些不同模式产生的机制的理解。理论模型将注意力视为性反应的关键机制，但注意力过程和性反应之间的直接联系从未被实证检验过。这项研究计划的目的是填补这一关键空白，首次使用性别/性透镜研究注意力如何对性反应产生影响。总体假设是，男性和女性在对性刺激的注意力方面存在差异，从而导致不同的性反应模式。为了验证这一点，我们将把男性和女性带到实验室，客观地测量他们的注意力，以及检查注意力对生理和心理性唤起的影响。我们还将研究是否可以修改性暗示引起的自动注意偏差，以及这如何影响性反应。另一个目标是通过研究一种新的机制-注意力不集中-及其与性反应的联系来完善现有的理论模型。所创造的知识将共同有助于开发基于经验的性反应模型，该模型解释了性别/性，最终更好地反映男性和女性的性体验。这项研究延续了加拿大性科学的优秀传统，为HQP提供了在心理生理学和基于性别和性别的数据分析（SGBA+）方面接受培训的独特机会。这些技能在多个科学领域有广泛的应用，包括心理学，神经科学，生理学和医学。了解性反应的潜在机制将用于生成性反应的实验支持模型，这些模型将对性研究人员产生直接影响，包括研究其他性相关现象的研究人员，如性取向和性功能问题的评估和治疗。鉴于性在人们生活中的中心地位，这项工作的影响将扩大到所有加拿大男子和妇女。关于性别性行为的准确经验知识也将有助于解决关于男性和女性性行为的无数社会误解。