1. Sexual video-stimulation and cognitive evoked potentials: a tool for the assessment of human sexual desire
Molo M, Balsamo A, Castelli L, Cotroneo D, Perozzo P, Vighetti S
Fondazione Carlo Molo onlus, Italy 1

2. BACKGROUND SEXUAL BEHAVIOR
Biological factors
Psychological factors
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR
Autonomic Nervous System
(heart rate, skin conductance, electromyografy etc..)
Central Nervous System
(event-related potentials-P300 cerebral wave)

3. decrease in the P300 amplitude
BACKGROUND
Vardi Y et al (2006)
Binaural auditory odd-ball paradigm (P300)
30 healthy subjects
Sexual and neutral videoclips
decrease in the P300 amplitude
P300 as objective measure of sexual interest

4. P300 is not an objective measure of sexual interest
BACKGROUND
Binaural auditory odd-ball paradigm (P300)+ neurovegetative parameters (heart rate and skin conductance)
Carvalho et al (2011)
30 healthy subjects
Sexual, horror, social-positive and social negative videoclips
decrease in the P300 amplitude during both horror and sexual content (strong emotion)
P300 is not an objective measure of sexual interest

5. Binaural auditory odd-ball paradigm (P300)
OUR STUDY
Binaural auditory odd-ball paradigm (P300)
75 healthy males
(age range: 20-60)
Videoclips:
Sexual (oral, vaginal and anal intercourse)
Neutral (sport and cartoons)
Time for session: 24 minutes
P300 at Cz electrode – the vertex (International System)
Impedance scared at least 5khom
Filter band: Hz
Amplitude: pick by pick from N200-P300 complex
Odd-ball paradigm: frequent tones (2000 Hz); rare tones (1000 Hz)

6. RESULTS *
* (p<0.001)
P300 amplitude is an attentional index to the task: when another stimulus catches attention, P300 decreases. Here P300 was found to be significantly higher during the vision of neutral with respect to sexual videoclips (5.4 μV ± 1.4 sd, vs 3.1 μV ± 0.9 sd, respectively; p <0,001) showing a bigger interest in erotic videos

7. DISCUSSION
1. In agreement to Vardi study, our results confermed the bigger interest of healthy subjects in erotic than neutral videos;
2. the intragroup variability (attention, motivation, emotional disposition etc...) didn’t allow us to consider the P300 methodic as a specific tool of assessing sexual interest, in agreement to Carvalho study
3. we think that the P300 methodic could help clinicians in the diagnosis of hypoactive sexual desire disorder as an additional tool, but unrealiable and not specific of sexual interest.

8. CONCLUSIONS
We submitted 24 subjects with Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder to the same P300 methodic (Poster presentation at FISS Congress, Taormina- Italy 2009) *
* p<0.001
P300 amplitude was found to be significantly higher during the vision of neutral with respect to sexual videoclips (5.2 μV ± 0.4 sd, vs 4.0 μV ± 0.4 sd, respectively; p<0,001).

9. CONCLUSIONS
*significant difference only for sexual videos. (p<0.001). *
HSDD subjects showed a smaller reduction of amplitude for sexual videos compared to healthy subjects
Could be this evidence indicative of a reduced interest in sexual videos due to HSDD?