Heightened Sexual Interest and Sleep Disturbance

Abstract

The study demonstrates a behavioral effect of selective sleep disturbance in normal human Ss. Ten male Ss were selectively REM-deprived for two nights by awakening them at the onset of REM sleep. In addition, there were baseline and non-REM awakening conditions. Heightened sexual interest was defined by the number of film frames (using a Mackworth camera) in which Ss fixated on parts of the female figure in photographs. The largest mean difference in sexual interest was found between baseline and REM-deprivation. Both the non-REM awakenings and REM-sleep deprivation enhanced sexual interest. The failure to demonstrate a significant difference between REM-deprivation and non-REM awakenings may be due to the fact that Ss were REM-sleep-deprived in both conditions. It is suggested that REM-sleep loss may lead to increased selective attention and preoccupation with any cues which are usually interesting.