This is a great article with my comments at the bottom
From[B] MEDICAL NEWS TODAY [/B] , East Sussex, UK
New research indicates that an area of the brain thought to act in reward circuitry may represent a phase in visual processing during which sexual orientation modulates how we perceive individual faces. The findings are reported by Felicitas Kranz and Alumit Ishai of the University of Zurich.
Of all the visual skills possessed by humans, face recognition is arguably the most developed. Past brain imaging studies have shown that the brain's cortical network for face perception includes regions in visual cortex that process the identification of individuals as well as social cues, such as gaze direction and speech-related movements; the amygdala and insula, where facial expressions are processed; and regions in prefrontal cortex and the reward circuitry, where the assessment of facial beauty is processed. Numerous studies have shown that the neural response to faces is modulated by cognitive factors such as familiarity, attention, memory, visual imagery, and emotion. For example, recent empirical evidence indicates that emotional faces (e.g., happy, fearful, or angry faces) evoke stronger neural activation than neutral faces, presumably as a result of their biological importance. It is currently unknown, however, whether the response to faces is modulated by gender or sexual orientation.
Social communication requires the accurate analysis of the intentions of other individuals. To this end, men and women likely adopt strategies of "face reading" in order to successfully interact with potential sexual partners. Thus, it is reasonable to assume differential patterns of activation in the hetero- and homosexual brains in response to faces of the same or opposite sex. In their new work, the researchers hypothesized that hetero- and homosexual subjects would exhibit a greater response to faces they deem sexually preferable. Specifically, the researchers predicted similar responses to male and female faces in the visual cortex, where facial identity is processed, but differential responses in the amygdala and the reward circuitry, where a "value" is assigned to faces. The researchers postulated that heterosexual women and homosexual men would show a greater response in these areas to male than to female faces, whereas heterosexual men and homosexual women would respond more to female than to male faces.
To test this hypothesis, the researchers used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), a non-invasive technique that permits the localization of regions in the human brain activated during cognition and experience. The researchers scanned 40 subjects (10 heterosexual women, 10 heterosexual men, 10 homosexual women, 10 homosexual men, mean age 26 ± 3 years) that were classified as hetero- or homosexuals on the basis of their self-report. While in the MR scanner, the subjects either passively viewed faces or pressed one of three buttons to indicate whether a face was Attractive, Neutral, or Unattractive, and reaction times were recorded.
Behaviorally, regardless of their gender and sexual orientation, all subjects rated the attractiveness of both male and female faces very similarly, suggesting that men and women equally notice and respond to beauty of individuals of the same and opposite sexes. Interestingly, all subjects, regardless of their gender or sexual preference, also showed virtually identical patterns of neural activation in regions in the visual cortex and the limbic system, where male and female faces elicited responses of similar magnitude. The findings indicated that invariant (facial identity) and variant (facial expression) features are similarly processed in the brain, independent of the gender of the individual who is viewed or the sexual orientation of the viewer.
The researchers found that, consistent with their hypothesis, the gender of a viewed individual, when the sexual preference of the viewer was taken into account, did make a difference in the reactions seen in the thalamus and the orbitofrontal cortex, a region of the brain's reward circuitry. Heterosexual women and homosexual men exhibited a significantly greater response to male faces, whereas heterosexual men and homosexual women responded significantly more to female faces.
The orbitofrontal cortex is known to be involved in representing the reward value of various sensory stimuli, including beautiful faces, as well as the reward value of abstract positive (for example, money) and negative (for example, punishment) entities. What could this mean for interpreting socially relevant information? Past work has shown that patients with lesions in orbitofrontal cortex are impaired in their ability to identify emotional facial expressions, suggesting that this region has an important role in the processing of facial cues required for social communication. In this light, the researchers suggest that the observed modulation by sexual preference of the response to faces within the orbitofrontal cortex extends the role of this brain region in social behavior.
Does the orbitofrontal cortex play a role in evaluating potential reproductive partners? Facial beauty is considered a marker for reproductive fitness. Not surprisingly, recent studies have reported that facial beauty evokes activation in the brain's reward circuitry. It has been suggested that the rewarding, evolutionarily adaptive value of an attractive face can be dissociated from its aesthetic value: for example, an attractive opposite-sex face may signal that a potential sexual partner has a healthy genotype, but an attractive, same-sex face cannot indicate such reproductive benefits. The orbitofrontal cortex could therefore mediate the evolutionary, adaptive value of attractive, opposite-sex faces, thus providing putative neural correlates for the assessment of potential mates for reproductive purposes. However, the researchers in fact did not find neural evidence in support of such dissociation between attractive faces of the opposite sex, reflecting reproductive benefits, and attractive faces of the same sex, reflecting aesthetic appraisal of beauty. Rather, the researchers' findings indicated that the orbitofrontal cortex has a more general role in representing the reward value of faces of potential sexual partners, including same-sex mates, irrespective of reproduction.
The findings suggest that the response to faces in the reward circuitry is modulated by sexual preference, and they provide neural evidence for the role of face processing in mating.
The researchers include Felicitas Kranz and Alumit Ishai of the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. This study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation grant 3200B0-105278.
Kranz et al.: "Face Perception is Modulated by Sexual Preference." Publishing in Current Biology Vol. 16, Issue 1, pages 63-68, January 10, 2006. DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2005.10.070, http://www.current-biology.com
Heidi Hardman
hhardman@cell.com
Cell Press
www.cellpress.com
I know blah, blah, blah .........another scientific study on something that is self evident. i.e. Gay people are different....OMG...LOL... I actually think it is interesting. Scientists and their endless studies of sex, are for the most part stuck in the reproductive paradigm of sex. REPRODUCE...REPRODUCE...REPRODUCE Oh that blind driving force of reproduction. So if your having gay sex with your boyfriend your out of the reproduction loop..your not being [RE]productive..blah , blah, blah.....This is why in the past homosexuality was deemed infantile and selfish. Only in the last few years has the scientific community allowed for the possibility that a certain small percentage of people are wired sexually in a different way.
I think the male face is erotic. To quote the fore mentioned article, "Of all the visual skills possessed by humans, face recognition is arguably the most developed."
Using your face as a sexual organ:
Faceless porn is boring after a few minutes..big pole going into little hole...but if you add faces and expressions..then that becomes electric. I love the fact that our faces, mouths and lips can be sexual organs. It is so much more intimate. As a deep throating cocksucker you engage more of your senses..taste..smell..and if you keep your eyes open sight.
On a metaphysical level..if you can take the hard prick into your throat you can activate "the Venus" center....and that is a wonder. In fact three chakras or metaphysical energy points are located in your head and neck.
[COLOR=Magenta]Sex magick: [/COLOR]
As I have mentioned before I learned to deep throat by meditating on my Venus center using a magickal sigil. (provided by my teacher) Part of this exercise was harvesting the excess Mars energy(also using a sigil) and storing it in the throat center....it required a two week period of anal sex abstinence (sealing)...... that was rough.....no jacking either, but when the exercise was mastered the rewards were 3 fold: I was able to easily take my b/f's big schlong into my throat beyond the gag reflex and give and get immense pleasure. I was able to use this sex energy in a magickal way ...(using the magickal voice). The third way and probably the most rewarding was the resulting enhanced self esteem. My self esteem was enhanced because I was able to integrate and use a part of me that had been dormant or even damaged by prejudicial conditioning.
If you peek into my gallery you can find a gallery on facials..males with sperm on their faces....your face is so intimate and personal..when you let another male pollinate your face...your really saying something.
Bit of a ramble....I think Gay sex.... Male on Male gay sex that is....is like saturating colors in art. It's intensity enhanced. ST8 sex is like mixing colors....
Good News: I GOT SLAMMED with some Evening delight.....my nips are as dark red and still dented with molar marks.......he took me to a place of intense energy...I was up to 2pm....
