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An Evaluation of the Validity of Thermography as a Physiological Measure of Sexual Arousal in a Non-University Adult Sample

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Abstract

Thermography is a promising technology for the physiological measurement of sexual arousal in both men and women. This study was designed to extend our previous college student thermography study findings to an older sample (M age = 37.05 years), add an anxiety control group to further examine the specificity of temperature change, and examine the relationship between genital temperature and a continuous measure of subjective sexual arousal. Healthy men (n = 40) and women (n = 39) viewed a neutral film clip after which they were randomly assigned to view one of four other videos: neutral (n = 20), humor (n = 19), anxiety provoking (n = 20) or sexually explicit (n = 20). Genital and thigh temperature were continuously recorded using a TSA ImagIR thermographic camera. Continuous and discrete reports of subjective sexual arousal were also obtained. Results supported the validity of thermography as a measure of sexual arousal: temperature change was specific to the genitals during the sexual arousal condition and was significantly correlated with subjective continuous and discrete reports of sexual arousal. Further development should assess the potential of thermography as a tool for the diagnosis and treatment evaluation of sexual arousal difficulties and for studying sex differences.

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Notes

  1. Results from the various F tests at baseline are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Seahorse Biosciences (North Billerica, MA) for their generosity in providing us with the thermography equipment and Timofei Gapakov for designing the continuous measure of subjective sexual arousal. Thanks to Seth Davis, Melissa Farmer, Marie-Andrée Lahaie, Alina Kao, Louise Overington, Laurel Paterson, and Clio Pitula for their comments during the preparation of this article, as well as Christina Yager, Shiri Friewald, and Arieyu Zhang for their assistance with data collection and entry. This research was supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant to Y. M. Binik, as well as a Pfizer grant and a Canadian Male Sexual Health Council grant to Y. M. Binik and S. Carrier. T. M. Kukkonen is supported by a doctoral fellowship from the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec and this article stands in partial fulfillment of her Ph.D. requirements under the supervision of Dr. Y. M. Binik. T. M. Kukkonen was awarded the 2009 International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health New Investigator Award in Biology and the 2009 Society for Sex Therapy and Research Student Award for this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, McGill University, 1205 Dr. Penfield, Montreal, QC, H3A 1B1, Canada

    Tuuli M. Kukkonen, Yitzchak M. Binik & Rhonda Amsel

  2. Sex and Couple Therapy Service, McGill University Health Centre (RVH), Montreal, QC, Canada

    Yitzchak M. Binik

  3. Department of Surgery, Division of Urology, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Serge Carrier

Authors
  1. Tuuli M. Kukkonen
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  2. Yitzchak M. Binik
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  3. Rhonda Amsel
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  4. Serge Carrier
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tuuli M. Kukkonen.

Appendix

Appendix

Questions on subjective arousal (scale from 0 to 10 unless otherwise indicated):

Relaxation

  1. 1.

    Overall, how relaxed did you feel during this film?

Enjoyment

  1. 1.

    Overall, how much did you enjoy the film?

Humor

  1. 1.

    Overall, how funny did you find the film?

Anxiety

  1. 1.

    Overall, how anxious did you become during this film?

  2. 2.

    Overall, how frightening was this film?

Sexual Arousal

  1. 1.

    Overall, how sexually aroused did you become during this film?

  2. 2.

    How would you rate your peak sexual arousal?

  3. 3.

    Overall, how sexually aroused were you mentally during this film?

  4. 4.

    Did watching the video make you feel like having sex with a partner?

  5. 5.

    Did watching the video make you feel like masturbating?

  6. 6.

    Overall, how sexually aroused were you physically during this film?

  7. 7.

    How much genital change did you feel during this film?

  8. 8.

    Women only: how much lubrication did you feel during this film?

  9. 9.

    Women only: how much genital tingling or fullness did you feel during this film?

  10. 10.

    Men only: How would you rate your erection in response to this film?

  11. 11.

    At what point during the film would you say that you were most sexually aroused (1) was not at all sexually aroused; (2) within the first 5 min; (3) between 5 and 10 min; (4) during the last 5 min; (5) varied throughout; (6) other)?

  12. 12.

    How sexually aroused did you feel during the film as compared to how sexually aroused you typically are with a partner (−5 much less sexually aroused to +5 much more sexually aroused)?

Influence of camera on arousal

  1. 1.

    Did the process of having your genitals filmed affect you in any way (Yes/No)?

  2. 2.

    If yes,

    1. (a)

      Did it increase or decrease sexual arousal?

    2. (b)

      To what extent (0 not at all-10 the most possible).

  3. 3.

    If yes,

    1. (a)

      Did it increase or decrease how funny you thought the film was?

    2. (b)

      To what extent (0 not at all-10 the most possible).

  4. 4.

    If yes,

    1. (a)

      Did it increase or decrease how relaxed you felt during the film?

    2. (b)

      To what extent (0 not at all-10 the most possible).

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Kukkonen, T.M., Binik, Y.M., Amsel, R. et al. An Evaluation of the Validity of Thermography as a Physiological Measure of Sexual Arousal in a Non-University Adult Sample. Arch Sex Behav 39, 861–873 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-009-9496-4

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