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Resting-state functional connectivity within the reward system mediates subcortical integration during erotic

Carolina Fiederer¹, Tara Chand^2,3, Louise Martens¹

¹Department of Psychiatry, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany.

The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry : the Official Journal of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry

|June 14, 2025

Summary

Resting-state functional connectivity in the brain's reward system, specifically between the midbrain and nucleus accumbens (NAcc), is linked to processing erotic stimuli. Higher connectivity facilitates activation of subcortical regions involved in sexual behavior.

Keywords:

Erotic stimulus processing fMRI resting-state reward salience

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Published on: March 21, 2019

Area of Science:

Neuroimaging
Neuroscience
Human Sexuality

Background:

Erotic stimuli activate brain reward systems.
Neuroimaging studies show activations during visual erotic stimulation.
Limited research exists on resting-state network architecture for these activations.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the resting-state functional connectivity of the human reward system during erotic stimulus processing.
To correlate resting-state functional connectivity with task-related neural activations.

Main Methods:

Combined resting-state and task-related fMRI in 37 healthy heterosexual males.
Used erotic and non-erotic video clips for task-based fMRI.
Correlated neuronal activation vectors with resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) between the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and midbrain.

Main Results:

Observed increased neurofunctional activations in cortical and subcortical regions during visual erotic stimulation.
Found increased rs-FC between the midbrain and NAcc.
Higher midbrain-NAcc rs-FC correlated with greater neuronal responsiveness in subcortical areas like the hypothalamus, thalamus, and periaqueductal gray.

Conclusions:

Results support the mesolimbic reward pathway's role in processing erotic stimuli.
Higher midbrain-NAcc rs-FC aids simultaneous activation of subcortical regions crucial for sexual behavior integration.