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Only Epilepsy Brings More Activity to Women's Brains than Does `Self-Stimulation' to Orgasm

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


The pop psychology section of Barnes & Noble is filled with self-help books that dutifully explain how the brain is the body’s primary erogenous zone. Now researchers have spliced together a series of fMRI images to make a movie that shows the extent to which that clichéd adage rings true. A video, shown on an iPad this afternoon in a poster session at SfN 2011, indicates that more activity exists in the brains of women during "self-stimulation" to orgasm (this is a family blog so we’ll stick with geek speak) than anything short of an epileptic seizure. Barry Komisaruk, a Rutgers University psychology professor, marvels: "It seems to activate all of the major brain systems, which we didn’t know before. I don’t know of any other behavioral process that is so powerful." [Below is a still from the "Brain Symphony" movie, courtesy of Barry Komisaruk.]

The movie, labeled by the researchers in Komisaruk’s laboratory as a "brain symphony" and presented to the press in a book called "hot topics," shows the buildup to orgasm and the subsequent ebbing of activity during a five-minute period. A series of colored lines—each of which represents a two-second “snapshot”—descend down the screen, evolving from dark red (lowest activity) to (white, highest level) as a woman’s brain progresses toward the Big O. Each line is subdivided into 80 columns that represent the left, midline and right regions. (The poster presentation includes scans of six women, though only one was used for the movie.)

The opening sonata begins with activation of the genital sensory projection zone, the paracentral lobule, followed by a cueing of the limbic system (insula, anterior cingulate, amygdala, hippocampus). During the crescendo, other areas join in for the hallelujah: the cerebellum (perhaps because of a change in muscle tension), the nucleus accumbens (a reward and pleasure center), the hypothalamus (spritzer of oxytocin, often misleadingly called the 'love hormone') and even the frontal cortex. Other researchers have found that the frontal area, the executive control center, shuts down during orgasm, perhaps because stimulation was provided by a partner, which might enable someone to simply let go.


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At 70, Komisaruk has researched the physiology of the female orgasm for decades and has collected fMRI data on 30 women during the past eight years. By no means does the scanner evoke the ambiance of mojitos and Caribbean sunsets. To keep a woman’s head from moving during climax, she must wear what is called a "thermoplastic, semi-rigid head restrainer," which, if it weren’t a clinical lab implement, might bring to mind something secreted in Torquemada’s toolkit. Nonetheless, Komisaruk has yet to encounter any, uh, problems.

Understanding the normal physiology of orgasm might help address the problem of anorgasmia, the inability to achieve climax and the issues related to female sexual desire, as drug makers have yet to come up with a Viagra equivalent for women. Komisaruk is now doing similar research with men. Stay tuned. Maybe Brain Symphony II will premiere at SfN 2012!

Gary Stix, Scientific American's neuroscience and psychology editor, commissions, edits and reports on emerging advances and technologies that have propelled brain science to the forefront of the biological sciences. Developments chronicled in dozens of cover stories, feature articles and news stories, document groundbreaking neuroimaging techniques that reveal what happens in the brain while you are immersed in thought; the arrival of brain implants that alleviate mood disorders like depression; lab-made brains; psychological resilience; meditation; the intricacies of sleep; the new era for psychedelic drugs and artificial intelligence and growing insights leading to an understanding of our conscious selves. Before taking over the neuroscience beat, Stix, as Scientific American's special projects editor, oversaw the magazine's annual single-topic special issues, conceiving of and producing issues on Einstein, Darwin, climate change, nanotechnology and the nature of time. The issue he edited on time won a National Magazine Award. Besides mind and brain coverage, Stix has edited or written cover stories on Wall Street quants, building the world's tallest building, Olympic training methods, molecular electronics, what makes us human and the things you should and should not eat. Stix started a monthly column, Working Knowledge, that gave the reader a peek at the design and function of common technologies, from polygraph machines to Velcro. It eventually became the magazine's Graphic Science column. He also initiated a column on patents and intellectual property and another on the genesis of the ingenious ideas underlying new technologies in fields like electronics and biotechnology. Stix is the author with his wife, Miriam Lacob, of a technology primer called Who Gives a Gigabyte: A Survival Guide to the Technologically Perplexed (John Wiley & Sons, 1999).

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