Conditioning and Sexual Behavior: A Review

Pfaus, James G.; Kippin, Tod E.; Centeno, Soraya

doi:10.1006/hbeh.2001.1686

Cited by 314 publications

(220 citation statements)

References 250 publications

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“…It has been reported that the postejaculatory interval is also rewarding because it can induce conditioned place preference (Pfaus et al, 2001). In this study, the number of high gamma oscillating neurons increased in Phase 4.…”

Section: Nacs Involvement In Reward-related Functions Of Sexual Behaviorsupporting

confidence: 52%

“…The NAc plays a critical role in partner-preference formation in male prairie voles (Aragona et al, 2006); moreover, in male rats, it is activated by odors associated with females (West et al, 1992;Kippin et al, 2003). Partner preference and attraction to female odors evolves through experience of copulation with females (Pfaus et al, 2001). Together, these previous studies suggest that the NAc may encode rewards, cues, and/or contexts related to sexual behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Neuronal Responses in the Nucleus Accumbens Shell during Sexual Behavior in Male Rats

Matsumoto¹,

Urakawa²,

Hori³

et al. 2012

J. Neurosci.

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Previous behavioral studies have indicated that the nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell of a male rat is involved in its sexual behavior; however, no previous studies have investigated neuronal activities in the male rat NAc shell during sexual behavior. To investigate this issue, we recorded single unit activities in the NAc shell of male rats during sexual behavior. Of 123 NAc shell neurons studied, 53, 47, and 40 neurons exhibited significantly changed firing rates at various times during intromission, genital auto-grooming, and sniffing of females, respectively. The two types of NAc shell neurons [putative fast spiking interneurons (pFSIs) and medium spiny neurons (pMSNs)] responded differently during sexual behavior. First, more pFSIs than pMSNs exhibited inhibitory responses to thrusting with intromission and genital grooming, while pFSIs and pMSNs responded similarly to sniffing of females. Second, both pFSIs and pMSNs responded differently to thrusting with and without intromission. Furthermore, NAc shell neuronal activity was significantly different across the different phases of sexual behavior, and the number of NAc shell neurons with delta oscillation, which is related to behavioral inhibition, and high gamma oscillation, which is related to reward perception, increased after ejaculation. Together, our results suggest that the NAc shell is deeply involved in sexual behavior, and changes in NAc shell neuronal activity are related to performance of sexual behavior, encoding cues or contexts related to sexual behavior, reward-related processing, and the inhibition of sexual behavior after ejaculation.

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Section: Nacs Involvement In Reward-related Functions Of Sexual Behaviorsupporting

confidence: 52%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuronal Responses in the Nucleus Accumbens Shell during Sexual Behavior in Male Rats

Matsumoto¹,

Urakawa²,

Hori³

et al. 2012

J. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They arise for a number of reasons, such as parental influence, sexual history, and self-perceived attractiveness (Jennions & Petrie, 1997;Perrett et al, 2002;Pfaus, Kippin, & Centeno, 2001). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Human Attractiveness Comprising Face and Voice Cues

et al. 2013

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In human mate choice, sexually dimorphic faces and voices comprise hormone-mediated cues that purportedly develop as an indicator of mate quality or the ability to compete with samesex rivals. If preferences for faces communicate the same biologically relevant information as do voices, then ratings of these cues should correlate. Sixty participants (30 male and 30 female) rated a series of opposite-sex faces, voices, and faces together with voices for attractiveness in a repeated measures computer-based experiment. The effects of face and voice attractiveness on face-voice compound stimuli were analyzed using a multilevel model.Faces contributed proportionally more than voices to ratings of face-voice compound attractiveness. Faces and voices positively and independently contributed to the attractiveness of male compound stimuli although there was no significant correlation between their rated attractiveness. A positive interaction and correlation between attractiveness was shown for faces and voices in relation to the attractiveness of female compound stimuli. Rather than providing a better estimate of a single characteristic, male faces and voices may instead communicate independent information that, in turn, provides a female with a better assessment of overall mate quality. Conversely, female faces and voices together provide males with a more accurate assessment of a single dimension of mate quality.

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“…These items are not as specific as those in the animal experiments, so it is difficult to detect the possible changes. This may also be related to the sexual experience that our subjects had before the surgery because this kind of experience may protect against the disruptive effects of the NAc-lesion on sexual behavior [48,49]. Previous studies, focusing on the effect of lesions in the medial pre-optic area (mPOA) on male copulatory behavior, failed to detect the copulatory deficits in the rats after destroying the mPOA cell body or depleting DA, and attributed the failure to a compensation mechanism because they detected a remarkable increase in DA receptor sensitivity or metabolism secondary to the lesion [50,51].…”

Section: Outcomementioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of nucleus accumbens lesions on appetite, sexual function, and nicotine dependence in recovering heroin addicts

Wang

Zhu

Chen

et al. 2013

Translational Neuroscience

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The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is a key part of the neural circuitry that creates reward, pleasure and motivation that facilitates human feeding, sexual and smoking behaviors. In the brain reward system, the NAc is a crucial component responsible for natural and drug-induced reinforcement behaviors. Yet it is unclear whether NAc is indispensible for all reward behaviors in human beings. The present study aimed to investigate the long-term effects of NAc ablation on sexual function, appetite, and nicotine dependence level in chronic heroin users. Eighteen former heroin-dependent patients (male) with bilateral NAc ablation via stereotactic radiofrequency surgery for alleviating drug psychological dependence were recruited. Their postoperative time ranged from 12 to 103 months. All subjects received MRI scans for assessing the accuracy of the lesion site. Evaluation of appetite, sexual function, and nicotine dependence were measured using the Simplified Nutrition Appetite Questionnaire, the Brief Sexual Function Inventory, and the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence, respectively. After precluding the potential confounding variables, such as drug use (dosage and duration), post-operation duration, age, body-weight, marital status and education level, ANOVA with repeated measures revealed that the NAc ablation improved the patients' appetite, sexual drive and sexual satisfaction. Yet there was no change in male erectile function, ejaculatory function, or nicotine dependence levels compared to the preoperative. These may suggest that although NAc is a key part of the neural circuitry, the NAc surgical lesions left the fundamental aspects of natural and drug-induced reinforcement and motivation almost intact.

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Conditioning and Sexual Behavior: A Review

Cited by 314 publications

References 250 publications

Neuronal Responses in the Nucleus Accumbens Shell during Sexual Behavior in Male Rats

Neuronal Responses in the Nucleus Accumbens Shell during Sexual Behavior in Male Rats

Perceptions of Human Attractiveness Comprising Face and Voice Cues

The effect of nucleus accumbens lesions on appetite, sexual function, and nicotine dependence in recovering heroin addicts

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