The Effects of Stimuli That Vary in Erotic Content on Cognitive Processes

Journal of Sex Research, May, 1999 by Lester W. Jr. Wright, Henry E. Adams

The present study is a replication and expansion of a previous study by Wright and Adams (1994) to develop a procedure to assess sexual interest that utilizes choice reaction time (CRT) as the dependent variable. The CRT procedure was based largely on a model of sexual arousal proposed by Singer (1984), which suggested the possibility of assessing sexual interest by measuring the orienting response of an individual to preferred-gender stimuli. This methodology is also supported by the work of Kohlers (1976), who reported that viewing time is greater for material that is motivating and interesting.

The CRT procedure in the pilot project by Wright and Adams (1994) recorded reaction time latencies to three types of stimuli: nude men, nude women, and neutral scenes. Eighty participants, 20 from each of four groups--heterosexual men, heterosexual women, gay men, and lesbian women--completed the CRT task. Please refer to the pilot study for the specifics on procedures and methodology. The study yielded the following results: 76 of 80, or 95% of the participants, scored as predicted on the CRT task, indicating they had longer latencies to preferred-gender stimuli as compared to nonpreferred-gender and neutral stimuli. Upon completion of the pilot study, a few variables that were not adequately controlled became of interest, and these variables serve as the basis for this project. Sexual motivation, stimuli that vary in erotic content, and incidental learning are the prime variables of interest in this study.

Sexual interest is assumed to have motivational properties--it leads to sexual arousal, which can affect one's mood state. If this is so then sexual interest, like depression and anxiety, when elicited, should influence one's ability to process information. It has been demonstrated, for example, that both anxiety and depression decrease performance on a cognitive task such as the Stroop Color-Naming Task (Fox, 1993; Segal, 1995). The Stroop Color-Naming Task is a complex task of attention and interference involving compound stimulus (MacLeod, 1991). Consequently, it could be hypothesized that if sexual interest was elicited during a similar discrimination task, similar interference effects should occur. This hypothesis received support in the pilot project by Wright and Adams (1994) which demonstrated that slides of nude adults caused interference and increased reaction time during a choice discrimination task. Furthermore, the interference was only present if the sexual stimuli were congruent with the individual's sexual orientation. The fact that each group demonstrated longer latencies on preferred-gender stimuli indicates that the interference only occurred if sexual interest was present. These results support a relationship between the motivational aspects of sexual interest and cognitive processes. In addition, it is possible that these results provide a basis for measurement of sexual interest and sexual orientation.

The present study was designed to further explore the motivational and interference effects of sexual interest on cognitive functioning. While the original study demonstrated an interference effect, it ignored the motivational aspects of sexual arousal. In other words, stimuli which elicit greater interest should have a larger influence on one's ability to process information as demonstrated by Pallak, Pittman, Heller, and Munson (1975) using the Stroop procedure.

The present study was designed to replicate the original study by Wright and Adams (1994) using more rigorous controls, and to demonstrate that the degree of sexual interest is of importance in this procedure. According to the trichotomy of sexual arousal theory put forth by Singer (1984), if a stimulus or an aspect of the environment initiates the sexual response, then the individual should attempt to maintain contact with that stimulus. And, while attempting to maintain contact with the stimulus, the individual will be distracted and will experience decreased performance on a task requiring attention and concentration. Thus, the first hypothesis of this study is that individuals will have longer contact or reaction time with stimuli which are sexually appealing as originally shown by Wright and Adams (1994). The second hypothesis is that participants will experience greater sexual interest and, thus, have longer latencies to slides that are more provocative (i.e., stimuli of nude vs. clothed individuals). The third hypothesis is that if slides of nude preferred-gender stimuli elicit sexual interest and interfere with cognitive processes by directing attention to the more salient background image of the stimuli that is competing for attention, then memory for these stimuli should be greater during a recognition task (Kintsch, 1974; Simon, 1994). Thus, incidental learning should occur and recognition should be greatest for slides of nude preferred-gender stimuli during an incidental learning task. This study was designed to evaluate these hypotheses.