Interoceptive Awareness Moderates the Relationship Between Perceived and Physiological Genital Arousal in Women

In general, laboratory studies have shown low correlations between subjective (ie, self-report) and physiologic (ie, vaginal pulse amplitude) measurements of sexual arousal in women. One explanation for this presumed low concordance is that women might not be attending to their genital responses and/or might be unable to accurately perceive their genital responses.

To examine the extent to which women can perceive their genital arousal sensations, the role that interoceptive awareness plays in this ability, and whether interoceptive awareness influences sexual concordance in women.

Twenty-six sexually functional women viewed an erotic film while their physiologic and perceived genital sexual arousal levels were measured continuously. Self-report measurements of sexual function and bodily awareness also were administered.

Physiologic sexual arousal was measured with a vaginal photoplethysmograph, and perception of genital arousal was measured with an arousometer. Degree of bodily awareness was measured with the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness questionnaire.

Women exhibited a significant degree of agreement between physiologic and perceived genital arousal (P < .05). Interoceptive awareness was found to significantly moderate this relation (P < 0.05), such that a greater degree of interoceptive awareness facilitated greater agreement between physiologic and perceived genital arousal. Interoceptive awareness also was found to facilitate greater concordance between subjective and physiologic sexual arousal (P < .05).

Women can perceive their genital response, and interoceptive awareness influences this ability and the relation between subjective and physiologic sexual arousal. Increasing bodily awareness could be a plausible route for treatment development.