Appearance Matters

Background

• Sensory Cues
• Visual Stimuli Overview
• Sexual Motivation and Attention
• Eye-Tracking Overview
• Image Selection

Sensory cues

• Evolutionary Roots: Intentions, Attention
• Sexual Arousal and Sexual Interest--men exhibit higher activation in amygdala & hypothalamus in response to visual stimuli (Hamann et al, 2004)
• Signaling beyond hormones and olfactory sense, examples in pop culture

Visual Stimuli Overview

• Attention to visual stimuli indicates its importance and relevance to "neural, subjective, and genital endpoints"
• Preferential processing and encoding (Yantis, 2005)
• Previous studies: Couples engaged in sexual activity and photos chosen by different sexes (and preference) (Hamann et al, 2004)

Sexual Motivation & Attention

• Men show more sexual stimulation (physiological measures) from visual stimuli of erotic images than women (Fisher et al, 2002)
• Source of stimulation

Eye Tracking MEthod

• Reveals viewing strategies used to maintain arousal
• GazeTracker software: headband mounted, video-based
• Non-specific to areas within designated regions

Image Selection

• Images chosen by non-participants who rated images based on their levels of sexual attractiveness -- most attractive photos were selected
• Participants were exposed to 72 photos in each session -- total of 364 photos

Your Turn: JigSaw I

• Divide into 4 groups of 3 - 4 people.
• I will distribute hard copies of 2 - 3 questions per group that focus on ONE section of the reading.
• Discuss the questions for 4 minutes--everyone must contribute and feeel confident in their groups responses!
• Create one further question to propose.

Your Turn: JigSaw II

• Divide into 4 groups of 3 - 4 people - you should have one person from each original group.
• Share out a summary of what your group came up with for your section, as well as the proposed question.
• You will have ~4 minutes.

Hypothesis

• What issues did the researchers encounter when creating a hypothesis?
• Would you predict a similar hypothesis for bisexual, asexual, or homosexual participants?
• To what extent should social factors and influence be taken into consideration with sex differences (ex. tailoring pornography for male gaze)?

MEthods

• How did the researcher's ensure they were testing what they intended?
• What was the researchers' rationale behind choosing both normal cycling and oral contracepting female participants?
• List 2 strengths and 2 points of improvement for the methods followed.

results

• What was the effect of oral contraceptive use on viewing probability?
• Hypothesize the effects of selecting participants who are more "sexually liberal" than the general population.
• What does your group think the key takeaway differences/similarities between men and women's results are? Why?

dISCUSSION & Limitations

• What are examples, from this study and outside knowledge, of hormones influencing attentional processes?
• Discuss the idea of emotion as a driving force for attention in receiving and observing sexual stimuli.
• List two benefits and two negatives to the eye tracking method. More broadly, were the researchers testing what they intended to?

Conclusion & Questions

Sources

• Balcetis, E., & Dunning, D. (2006). See what you want to see: Motivational influences on visual perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(4), 612-625
• Hamann, S., Herman, R.A., Nolan, C.L., Wallen, K., 2004. Men and women differ in amygdala response to visual sexual stimuli. Nature Neurosci. 7, 1-6.
• Yantis, S.,2005. How visual salience wins the battle for awareness. Nat Neurosci. 8, 975-977.