The area of ​​the brain associated with the genitals in women and responding to touching them was discovered in women by German scientists. This area was found to be more developed in women who have more sex, but it is unclear whether its size is associated with higher sensitivity. It is also unknown - a more developed area of ​​the brain pushes women to have more frequent sex, or vice versa, more frequent sex contributes to its development. Based on the results of experiments with animals and data on the development of brain regions in general, however, the researchers are inclined to the second option: the more actively a part of the brain is used, the more it develops. The somatosensory cortex receives and processes sensory information from the entire body. Each part of the body is associated with a specific area of ​​the cortex, and the location of the areas associated with the female genitals has long been a subject of controversy.

The question of the connection between the genitals and the brain has been raised several times in recent decades. However, the area associated with them has so far been reliably found only for men. Experiments with women have yielded conflicting results - stimulation of the genitals, alone or with the help of a partner, involved touching adjacent areas and led to the appearance of sexual arousal, which influenced the reaction of the brain.

It was possible to isolate the sought areas in rats and mice, and also to show that frequent stimulation of the genitals leads to an increase in the density of these areas, but it has not yet been possible to find out exactly how this is in women.

“It has not been studied at all how the female genitals are represented in the somatosensory cortex of the brain in humans, and whether the areas associated with the genitals may change at all depending on the experience or the frequency of intercourse,” says Christine Heim, professor of medical psychology at the Charite Clinic in Berlin and co-author of a new study, which nevertheless made it possible to find areas associated with the genitals in the brains of women.

The study involved 20 women 18-45 years old. During a functional MRI, the scientists stimulated their clitoris with a special instrument - a small sensor with a slightly vibrating membrane that was applied over the top of their underwear. The stimulation was enough to elicit a brain response, but too weak to lead to sexual arousal.

In total, the women went through eight 10-second stimulation cycles, with ten-second breaks.

Stimulation of the genitals has been found to respond to areas of the brain near those associated with sensations from the hips - just like in men. But the exact localization was different for all women. In four, for example, significant activation was observed only in the left or right hemisphere.

The researchers also asked the participants about their sex life - when they first had sex and how often they did it over the past year. Then, for each of them, scientists identified the ten most pronounced points in the brain associated with stimulation of the genitals, and measured the density of these areas.

As it turned out, in women who had sex more often, these areas were more developed.

“We found a link between the frequency of intercourse and the thickness of the individually mapped genital field,” Heim says. “The more often the sex, the denser the area.”

So far, however, there is no data on whether the increase in the area of ​​these areas is associated with a higher sensitivity to touch. In addition, it is unclear whether an increased area of ​​the area associated with the genitals promotes more frequent intercourse, or vice versa - more frequent sex leads to an increase in area.

However, the researchers have some guesses. First, it is known from earlier research that the more certain areas of the brain are used, the denser they become - for example, the density of the hippocampus in London taxi drivers changes significantly as they gain experience navigating the streets of the city.

Second, previous animal experiments showed that stimulation of the genitals of rats and mice resulted in an increase in the brain regions corresponding to the genitals.

These findings have yet to be confirmed by further research, but it seems that more frequent sex may actually increase the areas of the brain associated with the genitals. The question of the relationship between the density of these regions and the sensitivity is also controversial, but Heim suggests that such a relationship may exist. Previously, the researcher observed thinning of the brain areas associated with the genitals in people who survived sexual abuse.

“Then we speculated that it might be a brain response that limits the harmful effects of violence,” she says. “We present new data on the precise location of the female genital representation field and its capacity for structural changes associated with regular genital stimulation,” the authors write. "Our results pave the way for future research into the plasticity of the human genital field in response to normal or adverse experiences, as well as the structure, function and plasticity of the genital field in pathological conditions such as sexual dysfunction, sexual deviations, or risky sexual behavior."

The researchers also hope that further work in this area will improve the condition of people who have developed sexual dysfunction due to violence or for other reasons.

bbabo.Net