Individual cortisol response to acute stress influences neural processing of sexual cues
Abstract: Background and aims
Problematic pornography use can be conceptualized as an impulse control disorder or alternatively as a behavioral addiction. Stress is an important trigger in addiction, but less is known about the neural effect of stress in problematic pornography use. Therefore, we aimed at investigating the effect of stress during the anticipation and viewing of sexually explicit material while considering person characteristics related to potentially being at risk for developing problematic pornography use.
Methods
In an fMRI study (n = 157 men, age: mean = 25.46, SD = 4.11) we used a sexual incentive delay task. A social stress test was used to induce stress in half of the participants. Salivary cortisol was repeatedly measured and person characteristics were considered moderating the effects of cortisol response.
Results
We found no group differences in the neural responses during the anticipation phase, but a higher reactivity to sexual stimuli in the dACC in the stress group. Acute stress activated a pronounced cortisol response, which positively correlated with neural activations in the reward system (NAcc, dACC) to sexual cues. Further, the individual time spent on pornography use moderated the effect of cortisol in some regions of the reward system (dACC, mOFC).
Discussion and conclusions
Our results suggest that acute stress related increases in cortisol can enhance the incentive value of cues announcing sexual stimuli. This might explain why acute stress is considered a trigger of pornography use and relapse and why individual stress response might be a risk factor for developing a problematic pornography use
- Location
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Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
- Extent
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Online-Ressource
- Language
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Englisch
- Notes
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ISSN: 2063-5303
- Event
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Veröffentlichung
- (where)
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Freiburg
- (who)
-
Universität
- (when)
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2024
- Creator
- DOI
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10.1556/2006.2022.00037
- URN
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urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-2447580
- Rights
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Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
- Last update
-
25.03.2025, 1:48 PM CET
Data provider
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Associated
- Stark, Rudolf
- Markert, Charlotte
- Kruse, Onno
- Walter, Bertram
- Strahler, Jana
- Klein, Sanja
- Universität
Time of origin
- 2024
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