As LeDoux has shown, relative simple sensory processing
by subcortical areas can provide the requisite inputs to
structures such as the amygdale, bypassing or short-circuiting cortical
areas (LeDoux, 1996). For example, humans can recognize
certain emotions by the eyes alone and do not need to process the
face as a whole (Whalen et al., 2004). Research has shown that
this processing occurs subcortically (see LeDoux, 2012). Although
there is an ongoing debate in visual attention research about what
information is exactly transmitted from the thalamus to the amygdala
(i.e. likely no geometric information due to the receptive-field
properties of the superior colliculus, but more likely only gross
luminance changes; Redgrave et al., 2008), it is possible that this
same principle accounts for the processing of sexual stimuli too.
In a world flooded with sexual stimuli, subconscious processes,
as Oei et al. (2012) have shown, might play a role in compulsive
reward-seeking behaviors such as hypersexuality. Cognitive behavioral
therapy more and more incorporates treatments that target
implicit processes. For example, attentional bias training in abstinent
alcoholic patients (Schoenmakers et al., 2010), cognitive bias
modification in depression (Holmes et al., 2009), and retraining
automatic action tendencies in hazardous alcohol drinkers (Wiers
et al., 2010) have been shown to be promising treatment possibilities.
These interventions can also be promising for the treatment of
sexual arousal disorders. In the case of hypersexuality, retraining
automatic action tendencies with an approach/avoidance-task or
attentional bias training could be fruitful interventions, whereas
in the case of decreased sexual arousal not only retraining
automatic action tendencies, but also cognitive bias modification
using mental imagery can be a possible form of clinical
intervention.
