Despite the modern tests in use for diagnose and assessent sexual disorders, there is no objective phychophysiological test to evaluate human sexual desire. Previous study suggest that the amplitude of auditory wave called P300 decreases during exposure to sexually explicit videos. Materials and methods: 20 healthy subjects and 20 subjects with sexual desire disorder were exposed to blocks of auditory stimuli administered using an odddball paradigm. Auditory P300 amplitudes were obtained while subjects were also exposed to videoclips with sex, sport and cartoons scenes. Results: auditory P300 amplitude and area significantly decreases when viewing clips of all contents. In healthy subjects the P300 decrease was maximal while viewing the sexual content (p < .001); subjects with sexual desire disorder, instesd, show a smaller decrease of area and amplitude of auditory P300 when viewing sexual videoclips. Conclusions: the change in auditory P300 amplitude during exposure to visual stimuli with sexual content seems to be a good measure of subject sexual interest. This method might be applied to assess therapeutic intervention and as a diagnostic tool for assessing male sexual desire disorder.
Keywords: desire, sexuality, P300, pathology, psychophysiology, diagnose

Vania Rugiero, Lorys Castelli, Sergio Vighetti, Paola Perozzo, Ivan De Marco, Armando Balsamo, Piero Cantafio, Mariateresa Molo, Sexual Videostimulation and Cognitive Potentials: a Tool for the Diagnosis of Sexual Desire Disorder in "RIVISTA DI SESSUOLOGIA CLINICA" 2/2012, pp. 23-34, DOI:10.3280/RSC2012-002002