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Neural Mechanisms of Sexual Behavior
Sexual
response involves the entire nervous system:
|
Central nervous system |
|
|
Peripheral nervous system |
The brain itself is the coordinating and controlling center, interpreting what sensations are to be perceived as sexual and issuing appropriate "orders" to the rest of the nervous system.
Autonomic
nervous system - controls
the sexual involuntary responses;
Afferent
cerebrospinal nerves
- (those that go to the spinal
cord) carry the sensory messages to the brain.
Efferent
cerebrospinal nerves - (those
that come from the spinal cord) carry commands from the
brain to the
muscles.
Spinal
cord - serves as a great transmission cable.
No specific "sex area" has been located in the human brain, but the parts of the brain thought to be most concerned with sexual response are the hypothalamus and the limbic system.
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Author: Dr. Silvia Helena Cardoso, PhD. Psychobiologist, master and doctor in Sciences by the University of São Paulo and post doctoral fellowship by the University of California, Los Angeles. Invited Professor and Associate Researcher of the Center for Biomedical Informatics, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil.
Center for Biomedical Informatics
State University of Campinas, Brazil
Copyright 1997 State University of Campinas