ANT211H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Masturbation, Thalamus, Takers
Document Summary
Sexual response much more complicated and considerably less understood. Subjective sense of sexual excitement or arousal: what people find sexually arousing is a reflection in regards to their culture and society (what they are exposed too and used to) Interaction between: cognitive information processing, central brain mechanisms, peripheral physiological processes. Central brain mechanisms: neural signals, peripheral sexual responses, excitory, inhibitory, psychological response to a stimulation (largely culturally mediated) Are often physiological responses to sexual images or stimulation that is not consciously mediated by the individual: controlled. Something that the individual is conscious of. Males: pelvis thrusting: testosterone is crucial during a critical developmental period in order for them to perform pelvic thrusting (the length of this critical period varies in length along different species) Males: castrated at 1 day old no copulation, castrated after 1 week will copulate with testosterone in adulthood. Females: given organizing and activating shots of testosterone lose capacity for lordosis; will exhibit male copulatory behaviour.
