Walk, Kim (2024) Influence of Sexual Arousal on Emotional Reactions in a Partnered Sexual Experience (Orgasmic Meditation). Research Master thesis, Research Master.
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Abstract
Studies indicate that sex could serve as an adaptive way to manage emotions, but experimental research is necessary to establish the effectiveness of this approach. As a fundamental exploration, this study tested whether sexual arousal changes responses to emotional stimuli, hypothesizing that it does. To this effect, an experiment was conducted with 250 volunteers (127 women, 122 men, and 1 individual identifying as intersex) of diverse sexual orientations. Participants reported their sexual arousal levels before and after a 15-minute partnered genital stimulation practice called Orgasmic Meditation. Moreover, participants' emotional responses, indexed by frontal alpha power and measured using electroencephalography (EEG), to pictures of normed emotional value were compared between time points. Planned statistical analyses involved examining how changes in these reactions varied as a function of self-reported sexual arousal in a within-person mixed-model analysis. However, the manipulation check of the emotional viewing task failed, therefore, the primary analyses did not proceed. Exploratory analyses using parietal alpha and gamma sites suggested that task modifications may have resulted in an underpowered task with effects undetectable by frontal alpha. Thus, the study was not fully equipped to uncover the intended effect, rendering it inconclusive. Recommendations for future research to more effectively test the hypotheses are provided.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Research Master) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Borg, C. |
| Degree programme: | Research Master |
| Differentiation route: | Clinical Psychology and Clinical Neuropsychology [Research Master] |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Aug 2024 10:11 |
| Last Modified: | 23 Aug 2024 10:11 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4291 |
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