Jonah Lehrer on Porn

The Neuroscience of Porn:

Porn does not cause us to think about sex. Rather, porn causes to think we are having sex. From the perspective of the brain, the act of arousal is not preceded by a separate idea, which we absorb via the television screen. The act itself is the idea. In other words, porn works by convincing us that we are not watching porn. We think we are inside the screen, doing the deed.

Further information: Mirror neurons and imitation learning as the driving force behind 'the great leap forward' in human evolution by V.S. Ramachandran

The Neurological Roots of Sexual Pleasure

The Orgasmic Mind: The Neurological Roots of Sexual Pleasure by Martin Portner. The key principles:

Sexual desire and orgasm are subject to various influences on the brain and nervous system, which controls the sex glands and genitals. The ingredients of desire may differ for men and women, but researchers have revealed some surprising similarities. For example, visual stimuli spur sexual stirrings in women, as they do in men. Achieving orgasm, brain imaging studies show, involves more than heightened arousal. It requires a release of inhibitions engineered by shutdown of the brain’s center of vigilance in both sexes and a widespread neural power failure in females.

The Neurological Roots of Sexual Pleasure

The Orgasmic Mind: The Neurological Roots of Sexual Pleasure by Martin Portner. The key principles:

Sexual desire and orgasm are subject to various influences on the brain and nervous system, which controls the sex glands and genitals. The ingredients of desire may differ for men and women, but researchers have revealed some surprising similarities. For example, visual stimuli spur sexual stirrings in women, as they do in men. Achieving orgasm, brain imaging studies show, involves more than heightened arousal. It requires a release of inhibitions engineered by shutdown of the brain’s center of vigilance in both sexes and a widespread neural power failure in females.