visual cortex

Red zones in this brain map suggest frontal parts of the brain are particularly sensitive to erotic content.A new study suggests the brain is quickly turned on and “tuned in” when a person views erotic images. Researchers at the School of Medicine measured brainwave activity in women as they viewed a series of slides that contained various scenes from water skiers to snarling dogs to partially-clad couples in sensual poses. When study volunteers viewed erotic pictures, their brains produced electrical responses that were stronger than those elicited by other material, no matter how pleasant or disturbing the other material may have been.

Red zones in this brain map suggest frontal parts of the brain are particularly sensitive to erotic content.A new study suggests the brain is quickly turned on and “tuned in” when a person views erotic images. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis measured brainwave activity in women as they viewed a series of slides that contained various scenes from water skiers to snarling dogs to partially-clad couples in sensual poses. When study volunteers viewed erotic pictures, their brains produced electrical responses that were stronger than those elicited by other material, no matter how pleasant or disturbing the other material may have been. This difference in brainwave response emerged very quickly, suggesting that different neural circuits may be involved in the processing of erotic images.

Researchers discovered activity in a part of the brain called the extrastriate body both when subjects viewed body parts and when they pointed to an object.Although we don’t often think about it, the brain is a very complicated place. Even the simple act of pointing at an object requires an intricate network of brain activity. Scientists traditionally thought this network included a one-way “information highway” between the brain’s visual system and its motor and sensory systems, but research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis now challenges that long-held theory. The study demonstrates that the brain’s visual system is responsible not only for seeing and perceiving objects outside the body, but also is involved when individuals sense and manipulate their own bodies.