Desire - The Brain's Interpretation

The experience of desire - even for those blessed with high desire - may not be as spontaneous as you would imagine. It's been described by some researchers as a cognitive overlay that the brain gives to the sensation of already having been aroused by some sort of physical or subliminal stimulus.

In a series of studies at the University of Amsterdam, Ellen Laan, Stephanie Both and Mark Spiering demonstrated that the body’s entire motor system is activated almost instantly by exposure to sexual images, and that the more intensely sexual the visuals, the stronger the electric signals emitted by the participants’ so-called spinal tendious reflexes. By the looks of it, Dr. Laan said, the body is primed for sex before the mind has had a moment to leer.

Interestingly enough, even low-desire people exhibit the same physical arousal patterns when exposed to sexual images as the higher desire folks. So why don't they translate that arousal into desire? More on that tomorrow.