[Sexual orientation and selectivity of perception (experimental study)]

For a group of homosexual (N1 = 20) and heterosexual (N2 = 20) men the authors projected by means of a binocularoscope (apparatus making it possible to project to each eye a different slide) male life models (M), female life models (F) and neutral stimuli (N) in 18 different combinations. The period of exposure was 0.202 s. It was revealed that after concurrent exposure of two slides with different contents the responses of the two groups differed significantly: homosexuals perceived males (M) more frequently than females (F) and neutral stimuli (N), while heterosexuals perceived more frequently females (F) than males (M) and neutral stimuli (N). In both groups probands predominated who gave the majority of replies consistent with their sexual orientation. According to the authors the results provide evidence that perception is influenced by the sexual orientation of the subject. They assume that the described phenomenon can be used also when assessing the sexual orientation in sexuological diagnostic practice.