title: Detection of differential viewing patterns to erotic and non-erotic stimuli using eye-tracking methodology.
abstract: As a first step in the investigation of the role of visual attention in the processing of erotic stimuli, eye-tracking methodology was employed to measure eye movements during erotic scene presentation. Because eye-tracking is a novel methodology in sexuality research, we attempted to determine whether the eye-tracker could detect differences (should they exist) in visual attention to erotic and non-erotic scenes. A total of 20 men and 20 women were presented with a series of erotic and non-erotic images and tracked their eye movements during image presentation. Comparisons between erotic and non-erotic image groups showed significant differences on two of three dependent measures of visual attention (number of fixations and total time) in both men and women. As hypothesized, there was a significant Stimulus x Scene Region interaction, indicating that participants visually attended to the body more in the erotic stimuli than in the non-erotic stimuli, as evidenced by a greater number of fixations and longer total time devoted to that region. These findings provide support for the application of eye-tracking methodology as a measure of visual attentional capture in sexuality research. Future applications of this methodology to expand our knowledge of the role of cognition in sexuality are suggested.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Box 455030, Las Vegas, Nevada 89154-5030, USA. lykinsa@unlv.nevada.edu
authors.forename: Amy D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Lykins
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meana
authors.forename: Gretchen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kambe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001143:Arousal; D004882:Erotica; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors