Journal article

Publication year: 2016

Pages: 627-636

Journal: The Journal of Sexual Medicine

Volume number: 13

Issue number: 4

ISSN: 1743-6095

eISSN: 1743-6109

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.01.013

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Abstract: 

Introduction: There has been growing interest in a better understanding of the etiology of compulsive sexual behavior (CSB). It is assumed that facilitated appetitive conditioning might be an important mechanism for the development and maintenance of CSB, but no study thus far has investigated these processes.

Aim: To explore group differences in neural activity associated with appetitive conditioning and connectivity in subjects with CSB and a healthy control group.

Methods: Two groups (20 subjects with CSB and 20 controls) were exposed to an appetitive conditioning paradigm during a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, in which a neutral stimulus (CS+) predicted visual sexual stimuli and a second stimulus (CS-) did not.

Main Outcome Measures: Blood oxygen level-dependent responses and psychophysiologic interaction.

Results: As a main result, we found increased amygdala activity during appetitive conditioning for the CS+ vs the CS-and decreased coupling between the ventral striatum and prefrontal cortex in the CSB vs control group.

Conclusion: The findings show that neural correlates of appetitive conditioning and neural connectivity are altered in patients with CSB. The increased amygdala activation might reflect facilitated conditioning processes in patients with CSB. In addition, the observed decreased coupling could be interpreted as a marker for impaired emotion regulation success in this group. Copyright (C) 2016, International Society for Sexual Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Harvard Citation style: Klucken, T., Wehrum-Osinsky, S., Schweckendiek, J., Kruse, O. and Stark, R. (2016) Altered Appetitive Conditioning and Neural Connectivity in Subjects With Compulsive Sexual Behavior, The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 13(4), pp. 627-636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.01.013

APA Citation style: Klucken, T., Wehrum-Osinsky, S., Schweckendiek, J., Kruse, O., & Stark, R. (2016). Altered Appetitive Conditioning and Neural Connectivity in Subjects With Compulsive Sexual Behavior. The Journal of Sexual Medicine. 13(4), 627-636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.01.013