title: A quantitative meta-analysis on cue-induced male sexual arousal.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Visually induced sexual arousal is a common occurrence in human behavior. The cerebral underpinnings of this response have been explored in recent neuroimaging studies.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We set out to test the strength of evidence for the presence of a core network of brain regions involved in male sexual arousal elicited by erotic stimuli.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eleven functional magnetic resonance imaging studies that presented erotic visual stimuli and compared the associated brain activity with the brain activity elicited by neutral visual stimuli were identified.
  
  
  METHODS
  Activation likelihood estimation was employed to perform quantitative meta-analyses on coordinates of brain activation in order to assess significant concordance across studies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The meta-analysis included studies on heterosexual males and revealed consistent activation in the hypothalamus, thalamus, amygdala, anterior cingulate gyrus (ACC), insula, fusiform gyrus, precentral gyrus, parietal cortex, and occipital cortex across studies. Moreover, we explored brain responses associated with a physiological marker of sexual arousal (penile tumescence) and found concurrence in hypothalamus, thalamus, bilateral insula, ACC, postcentral gyrus, and occipital gyrus.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first quantitative meta-analysis on sexual cue reactivity and identifies a neural network consisting of cognitive (parietal cortex, ACC, thalamus, insula), emotional (amygdala, insula), motivational (precentral gyrus, parietal cortex), and physiological (hypothalamus/thalamus, insula) components constituting a core circuit of male sexual arousal in humans.
authors: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Experimental Psychology and Gent Institute for Functional and Metabolic Imaging, Gent University, Henri Dunantlaan, Gent, Belgium. simone.kuhn@ugent.be
authors: Simone
authors: S
authors: Kühn
authors: Jürgen
authors: J
authors: Gallinat