Attention bias for sexual words in females with low sexual functioning: A brief report

摘要

Attention bias (i.e., tendency to selectively attend to disorder-relevant stimuli) has been associated with numerous emotional disorders, but few studies have examined attention bias in the context of sexual problems. The current study tested the hypothesis that females with low sexual functioning show an attention bias toward sexual stimuli compared to females with high sexual functioning. We assessed attention bias using a modified probe detection task using sexual and neutral words. Females with low sexual functioning (n=25) showed an attention bias toward sexual words, whereas females with high sexual functioning (n=25) did not. These results suggest that attention bias may be involved in the maintenance of female sexual dysfunction. Moreover, our findings have implications for both models of sexual dysfunction, as well as clinical interventions.