In the Eyes of the Beholder: The Application of Eye-tracking Methodology to Sexuality Research Amy D. Lykins Marta Meana University of Nevada, Las Vegas IASR 2005

Introduction to Eye-tracking Methodology Why we did the studyWhy we did the study What is eye-tracking?What is eye-tracking? Scene perceptionScene perception

How Eye-trackers Work

Purpose of the Current Study Are erotic images visually processed differently than non-erotic images?Are erotic images visually processed differently than non-erotic images? HypothesesHypotheses Condition (erotic, non-erotic) X Scene region (face, body, context) interactionCondition (erotic, non-erotic) X Scene region (face, body, context) interaction No main effect for ConditionNo main effect for Condition

Methods ParticipantsParticipants 20 men, 20 women, college-age20 men, 20 women, college-age StimuliStimuli erotic and matched non-erotic imageserotic and matched non-erotic images ProcedureProcedure 15 second exposure to 5 erotic, 5 non- erotic images15 second exposure to 5 erotic, 5 non- erotic images

Measures of Interest Total Number of FixationsTotal Number of Fixations First Gaze Duration (ms)First Gaze Duration (ms) Total Time (ms)Total Time (ms)

Results—Total Number of Fixations Interaction significantInteraction significant Both ♂ and ♀ looked at body more times in erotic than non-erotic conditionBoth ♂ and ♀ looked at body more times in erotic than non-erotic condition ♂ looked at face more in non-erotic condition♂ looked at face more in non-erotic condition ♀ looked at context more in non-erotic condition♀ looked at context more in non-erotic condition Male Participants Female Participants

Results—First Gaze Duration Interaction not significantInteraction not significant Male Participants Female Participants

Results—Total Time Interaction significantInteraction significant Both ♂ and ♀ looked at body more in erotic than non-erotic conditionBoth ♂ and ♀ looked at body more in erotic than non-erotic condition ♂ looked at face more in non-erotic condition♂ looked at face more in non-erotic condition ♀ looked at context more in non-erotic condition♀ looked at context more in non-erotic condition Male Participants Female Participants

Conclusions Do people attend to erotic pictures differently than non-erotic pictures?Do people attend to erotic pictures differently than non-erotic pictures?YES! Why not first gaze duration?Why not first gaze duration? Eye-tracking can capture these differences in a quantitative, valid mannerEye-tracking can capture these differences in a quantitative, valid manner

Future Applications Gender differencesGender differences Sexual arousalSexual arousal Inner cognitions and appraisalsInner cognitions and appraisals Distractability, memoryDistractability, memory Reading of erotic storiesReading of erotic stories Test on clinical populationsTest on clinical populations