title: The Influence of Emotion Upregulation on the Expectation of Sexual Reward.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Emotion regulation research has shown successful altering of unwanted aversive emotional reactions. Cognitive strategies can also downregulate expectations of reward arising from conditioned stimuli, including sexual stimuli. However, little is known about whether such strategies can also efficiently upregulate expectations of sexual reward arising from conditioned stimuli, and possible gender differences therein.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study examined whether a cognitive upregulatory strategy could successfully upregulate sexual arousal elicited by sexual reward-conditioned cues in men and women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Men (n = 40) and women (n = 53) participated in a study using a differential conditioning paradigm, with genital vibrostimulation as unconditioned stimulus (US) and sexually relevant pictures as conditional stimuli.
  
  
  METHODS
  Penile circumference and vaginal pulse amplitude were assessed and ratings of US expectancy, affective value, and sexual arousal value were obtained. Also a stimulus response compatibility task was included to assess automatic approach and avoidance tendencies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Evidence was found for emotion upregulation to increase genital arousal response in the acquisition phase in both sexes, and to enhance resistance to extinction of conditioned genital responding in women. In men, the emotion upregulatory strategy resulted in increased conditioned positive affect.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings support that top-down modulation may indeed influence conditioned sexual responses. This knowledge may have implications for treating disturbances in sexual appetitive responses, such as low sexual arousal and desire.
authors.affiliation: Leiden University, Institute of Psychology, Clinical Psychology Unit, Leiden University Medical Centre, Department of Psychosomatic Gynaecology & Sexology, Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: m.brom@lumc.nl.
authors.forename: Mirte
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brom
authors.affiliation: Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Department of Sexology and Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Laan
authors.affiliation: University of Amsterdam, Department Clinical Psychology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Everaerd
authors.affiliation: Leiden University, Institute of Psychology, Clinical Psychology Unit. Leiden University Medical Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Spinhoven
authors.affiliation: Leiden University Medical Centre, Department of Gynaecology, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Baptist
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Trimbos
authors.affiliation: Leiden University Medical Centre, Department of Psychosomatic Gynaecology & Sexology, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Both
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007989:Libido / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012201:Reward; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D014732:Vibration
keywords: Positive Emotion Regulation; Sexual Arousal; Sexual Conditioning; Sexual Response; Sexual Reward Learning