Sexual motivation: problem solved and new problems introduced
- PMID: 31926079
- DOI: 10.1515/hmbci-2019-0055
Sexual motivation: problem solved and new problems introduced
Abstract
Background During the past 50 years, motivational studies have evolved from the logical inference of logically required "intervening variables" to explain behavioral change, to electrophysiological and molecular analyses of the mechanisms causing such changes. Aim The purpose of this review article is two-fold: first to describe the logic of sexual motivation in a way that applies to laboratory animals as well as humans, and the second is to address some of the problems of sexual motivation experienced by men. Results When problems of motivational mechanisms are stripped down to their essentials, as performed in the laboratory animal models and are available for reductionistic studies, then the problems can be solved with certainty, as illustrated in the first part of this review. However, with respect to human sexual motivation, the various determinants which include so many behavioral routes and so many brain states come into play, that definite conclusions are harder to come by, as illustrated in the second part of this review. Conclusions This review highlights a number of key questions that merit further investigation. These include (a) What mechanisms do cultural and experiential influences interact with androgenic hormone influences on human sexual motivation? (b) How would epigenetic effects in the human brain related to changes in motivation be investigated? (c) What are the effects of unpredictable traumatic and stressful human experiences on sexual motivation; (d) How such mechanisms are activated upon unpredictable traumatic and stressful insults? (e) What are the outstanding differences between sexual motivational drive and motivations driven by homeostatic systems such as hunger and thirst?
Keywords: androgens; cognitive function; novelty seeking; sexual motivations; testosterone.
Similar articles
-
A review of human male field studies of hormones and behavioral reproductive effort.Horm Behav. 2017 May;91:52-67. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.07.004. Epub 2016 Jul 19. Horm Behav. 2017. PMID: 27449532 Review.
-
Relationships between sexual and aggressive behavior in male and female rats: effects of gonadal hormones.Prog Brain Res. 1984;61:283-302. doi: 10.1016/S0079-6123(08)64442-8. Prog Brain Res. 1984. PMID: 6396706 Review. No abstract available.
-
Hormone-neurotransmitter interactions in the control of sexual behavior.Behav Brain Res. 1999 Nov 1;105(1):105-16. doi: 10.1016/s0166-4328(99)00086-8. Behav Brain Res. 1999. PMID: 10553694 Review.
-
Do sex differences in the brain explain sex differences in the hormonal induction of reproductive behavior? What 25 years of research on the Japanese quail tells us.Horm Behav. 1996 Dec;30(4):627-61. doi: 10.1006/hbeh.1996.0066. Horm Behav. 1996. PMID: 9047287 Review.
-
Sex steroids and sexual desire in a man with a novel mutation of aromatase gene and hypogonadism.Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2005 Jun;30(5):413-7. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2004.10.004. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2005. PMID: 15721053
Cited by
-
The elusive concept of sexual motivation: can it be anchored in the nervous system?Front Neurosci. 2023 Nov 17;17:1285810. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1285810. eCollection 2023. Front Neurosci. 2023. PMID: 38046659 Free PMC article. Review.
References
-
- Pfaff DW, editor. The physiological mechanisms of motivation. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 1982.
-
- Pfaff D, Tabansky I, Haubensak W. Tinbergen’s challenge for the neuroscience of behavior. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2019;116:9704–10.
-
- Pfaff DW. How the vertebrate brain regulates behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017.
-
- Hull EM, Rodriguez-Manzo G. Male sexual behavior. In: Pfaff DW, editor. Hormones, brain and behavior. San Diego,CA: Academic Press/Elsevier; 2017;1 of 5:1–51.
-
- Rice ME. Closing in on what motivates motivation. Nature. 2019;570:40–3.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Miscellaneous