Attentional Mechanisms Underlying Gendered Sexual Response

性是人性的一个基本方面。当代性理论认为，男性和女性的性反应是相似的；然而，大量的经验证据表明，这种假设是不正确的。在男性和女性的性反应模式中，有两种被很好地复制但令人困惑的差异。首先，与男性相比，女性的性反应被更广泛的性刺激所激活。第二，生理和心理唤醒之间的一致性在女性中比男性弱得多，女性几乎表现出一种身心脱节。尽管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。理论模型将注意力定位为性反应的关键机制，但注意力过程与性反应之间的直接联系从未被实证研究过。这项研究计划的目的是填补这一关键的空白，第一次用性别/性的视角来研究注意力是如何对性反应产生影响的。最重要的假设是，男性和女性对性刺激的关注不同，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进实验室，客观地测量他们的注意力，并检查注意力对生理和心理性唤起的影响。我们还将研究由性暗示引起的自动注意偏差是否可以修改，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——以及它与性反应的联系，来完善现有的理论模型。所创造的知识将有助于发展一种基于经验的性反应模型，这种模型可以解释性别/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在性科学方面的卓越传统，为HQP提供了在心理生理学、性和基于性别的数据分析（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。理解潜在的性反应机制将被用来产生有经验支持的性反应模型，这将对性研究人员有直接的影响，包括那些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展到所有加拿大男性和女性。关于性别性行为的准确经验知识也将有助于解决社会对男性和女性性行为的无数误解。

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.