ArticleNeuroImage. Clinical2020
Sexual cues alter working memory performance and brain processing in men with compulsive sexual behavior.
Article in NeuroImage. Clinical, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Striato-limbic and frontoparietal dysfunction underlying imbalance of reward-motivation and cognitive control in compulsive sexual behaviour disorder: A neuroimaging meta-analysis.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on craving and negative emotion regulation in individuals at risk for problematic pornography use: A double-blind, placebo-controlled study.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2025Trial
- Compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD) and problematic pornography use (PPU): A comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and expert-informed narrative review with suggested future directions.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2026Review
- The Effects of Pornographic Context on Working Memory Processing Among Individuals at Risk for Problematic Pornography Use.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Article
- Enhanced conditioning and disrupted extinction processes in men struggling with compulsive sexual behaviors.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2025Article
- Emotional interference and attentional bias in compulsive sexual behaviors disorder - An fMRI study on heterosexual males.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2024Article
- Biopsychosocial Determinants of Problematic Pornography Use: A Systematic Review.Addiction & health · 2023Review
- Personality dimensions of compulsive sexual behavior in the Sex@Brain study.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2023Article
- Decision making and executive functions in problematic pornography use.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Neural and behavioral correlates of sexual stimuli anticipation point to addiction-like mechanisms in compulsive sexual behavior disorder.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2022Article
- Individual cortisol response to acute stress influences neural processing of sexual cues.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2022Article
- Emerging experience with selected new categories in the ICD-11: complex PTSD, prolonged grief disorder, gaming disorder, and compulsive sexual behaviour disorder.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2022Article
- Aberrant orbitofrontal cortex reactivity to erotic cues in Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2021Article
- Cognitive processes related to problematic pornography use (PPU): A systematic review of experimental studies.Addictive behaviors reports · 2021Article
- Spotlight on Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder: A Systematic Review of Research on Women.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Pornography has been repeatedly at the centre of public attention and has been controversially discussed for a long time. However, little is known about the connection between pornographic stimuli and individual (neuronal) processing of attention and memory. Here, the impact and neural underpinnings of pornographic pictures on working memory processes in a sample of subjects with compulsive sexual behaviour was investigated. Therefore, whilst using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a letter n-back task with neutral or pornographic pictures in the background was employed in 38 patients and 31 healthy controls. On the behavioural level, patients were slowed down by pornographic material depending on their pornography consumption in the last week, which was reflected by a higher activation in the lingual gyrus. In addition, the lingual gyrus showed a higher functional connectivity to the insula during processing of pornographic stimuli in the patient group. In contrast, healthy subjects showed faster responses when confronted with pornographic pictures only with high cognitive load. Also, patients showed a better memory for pornographic pictures in a surprise recognition task compared to controls, speaking for a higher relevance of pornographic material in the patient group. These findings are in line with the incentive salience theory of addiction, especially the higher functional connectivity to the salience network with the insula as a key hub and the higher lingual activity during processing of pornographic pictures depending on recent pornography consumption.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.