Differential brain activation contrasting erotic minus non-erotic stimulation.

<p>Depicted are contrasts from experimental runs with video (A), picture (B) and picture expectation (C) stimuli during luteal and follicular phase of the menstrual cycle and under oral contraceptives. The rightmost panel depicts the conjunction of the three conditions. For demonstration purposes, all thresholds were set at p<0.005 uncorrected. Even at such a more lenient threshold, no differential brain activation was found under contraceptives upon picture expectation.</p

Differential brain activation in the precentral gyrus upon expectation of picture stimuli.

<p>A – differential brain activation in bilateral precentral gyrus during expectation of picture stimuli (nC-F [erotic minus non-erotic]>C [erotic minus non-erotic]) thresholded at p = 0.001 uncorrected, minimum 10 voxels per cluster. B – parameter estimates of modelled effects of brain activation in the left precentral gyrus in the follicular phase (nC-F group) and under oral contraceptives (C group) upon picture expectation. C – Illustration of the relationship between differential brain activation upon picture expectation (erotic minus non-erotic) in the precentral gyrus and estrogen levels in the nC-F group. Color coded bars represent T-levels.</p

Sample characteristics: Hormonal levels and questionnaires.

<p>Values are means and standard deviations (in rounded brackets) of serum estrogen and progesterone levels, subjective ratings of sexual dysfunction as assessed by the Massachusetts General Hospital Sexual Functioning Questionnaire (MGH-SFQ), subjective ratings of erotic and non-erotic pictures as presented during fMRI (visual analogue scale 1–9 with 1: not sexually arousing at all, 9: very sexually arousing) and symptoms of depression as measured with the ADS scale in the group taking contraceptives (C) and in the group without contraceptives during the follicular (nC-F) or luteal (nC-L) phase of the menstrual cycle; <i>p</i>: significance of group differences computed from paired and unpaired t-tests.</p

Significant condition-by-hormonal levels interaction effects (whole brain analysis).

<p>nC-group: women not taking hormonal contraceptives; F: mid-follicular phase of menstrual cycle; L: mid-luteal phase of menstrual cycle; C-group: women taking hormonal contraceptives; r: right; l: left; no significant interactions for nC-F>nC-L; #: activation maximum is part of cluster above. Group comparisons surviving an FDR corrected threshold of p<0.05 are marked by MNI-coordinates in bold type (a tilde behind the z-coordinate denotes significance at p<0.05, FWE corrected); an asterisk (*) denotes group differences at an uncorrected level of p<0.001 with cluster sizes of at least 10 contiguously significant voxels; t: t-value; NV: number of contiguously significant voxels; peak coordinates of clusters are MNI (Montreal Neurological Institute) normalized stereotactic coordinates: -x: left from the anterior commissure (AC); -y: posterior from AC; -z: inferior from AC. DLPFC: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; DMPFC: dorsal medial prefrontal cortex; BA: Brodman area.</p