INSTRUCTIONAL CONTROL OF AN AUTONOMIC SEXUAL RESPONSE¹

Abstract

Four of seven human male subjects developed full penile erections when exposed to erotically stimulating motion pictures. Changes in penile size were detected by a mercury strain gauge transducer and automatically recorded on a continuous paper record. When instructed to inhibit penile erection in the presence of such effective stimulus films, every subject was able to reduce his erection by at least 50%. This inhibition was apparent as long as the instructions were in effect; when the instructions were removed and the film reshown, the erection returned almost to its maximum state. This was true whether the films were presented as few as three or as many as nine times in succession. When instructed to develop an erection in the absence of a film, every subject was able to do so, each reaching a peak of about 30% of his maximum. Such erections had longer latencies to the peak produced and lower maximum levels than those elicited by a film.

The Effects of False Physiological Feedback on Sexual Arousal in Sexually Dysfunctional and Functional Males

“…An examination of capacity to voluntarily control erectile response suggests functionals can voluntarily increase their erectile responding to erotic or fantasy when given instructions to do so (Bancroft & Mathews, 1971;Laws & Rubin, 1969).…”

Identifying Specific Erotic Cues in Sexual Deviations by Audiotaped Descriptions1

“…The major problem arises from the ability of some subjects to suppress erection responses voluntarily (Abel et al, in press;Henson and Rubin, 1971;Laws and Rubin, 1969). Thus, one must be cautious about interpreting the meaning of direct penile measurement, regardless of the stimulus used, since an apparent lack of responsiveness may be due to either the lack of erotic value of the stimulus for the subject or the voluntary suppression of erection.…”

The Effect of Feedback on Penile Tumescence in Sexually Functional Men

“…This hypothesis is based largely on research that found functional men capable of voluntarily controlling their erections, attending to or ignoring erotic stimuli as directed (Bancroft & Matthews, 1971;Laws & Rubin, 1969;Henson & Rubin, 1971;Mavissakalian, Blanchard, Abel & Barlow, 1975;Mahoney & Strassberg, 1991). Dysfunctionals can also suppress their erections in the presence of erotic stimuli (Beck, Barlow & Sakheim, 1982).…”