Pursuit of Pleasure. Cognitive, Subjective and EEG Correlates of Female Sexual Arousal and Orgasm.

While singers and poets have long celebrated female pleasure, rigorous scientific investigation—particularly into the brain’s role in female sexual response—has only recently emerged, and empirical evidence remains limited. The overarching aim of this PhD work was to investigate female sexual arousal and orgasm using complementary quantitative and qualitative methods. Study 1, Pursuit of Pleasure, used prospective daily diaries collected over two menstrual cycles (approximately two months) from 367 women to examine motivations to have sex, cognitive and behavioral strategies that facilitate orgasm, and their effects on sexual response. Results from mixed models analyses showed that having sex for pleasure, to increase emotional closeness, or because one felt desired by the partner, was associated with enhanced sexual response, whereas having sex primarily to please a partner was associated with lower sexual arousal and satisfaction. Study 2, Waves to Orgasm, comprised two steps that generated complementary data. In the first step, we conducted semi-structured interviews investigating subjective changes across sexual-response phases (n=35). Recurrent themes and subthemes distinguishing between excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution were identified using thematic analysis. In the second step, EEG data (64 channels) during masturbation were collected at the participant’s house. After preprocessing and artifact rejection, EEG data were retained from 22 participants. Spectral analyses revealed a linear increase in low-gamma power (30–45 Hz) from Rest → Excitement → Plateau, with a maximum at Orgasm, and a subsequent decline during Resolution; these effects were most pronounced over mid-frontal electrodes. Together, the interview and EEG results provide complementary phenomenological and neurophysiological evidence that delineates the stages of the female sexual response and identify low-gamma activity as a candidate electrophysiological correlate of sexual arousal and orgasm. These findings motivate larger, multimodal studies of sexual function and dysfunction and suggest that scalp EEG is a promising, noninvasive tool to track the neural dynamics of orgasm.