The Female Orgasm : the interplay of cognitive, affective and physical determinants

• Autor(a) principal: Paradinha, Fabiana João Afonso
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/44144
• topic: Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Psicologia; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Médicas::Medicina Básica

An orgasm in women is a multidetermined and complex psychophysiological process, resulting in a full body experience. Due to the many variables involved, the mechanisms building up to orgasm are not fully understood nor properly integrated. In the context of Cognitive Science – the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind – it appears the Female Orgasm is dependent on the interaction between the three segments of the mind, namely cognition, volition and affection. The present study aims to contribute for a more integrated comprehension of the Female Orgasm. We enforced a multidisciplinary approach and performed an argumentative literature review of some key aspects of Female Orgasm, including its anatomy, physiology and psychological underlying factors. We overlapped this information with cognitive insights, including memory and consciousness. Based on the gathered data, we proposed a prototypical model for the Female Sexual Response. It includes scientifically accepted mechanisms from the different fields explored and offers a schematic representation of the interactions and influences among them. It also accounts for possible disfunctions and disruptions, thus being inclusive enough to both functional and dysfunctional sexual experiences. Conjecturing the Female Orgasm as a multidetermined phenomenon ensures a more thorough understanding of it. Considering multiple determinants of orgasm may provide new insights on the singularity of each one’s experience and, therefore, contribute to a more inclusive model. This hypothesis may also have clinical applications, contributing to a more personal assessment and intervention. However, more studies are needed to experimentally determine and assess the correlation between variables. Importantly, the interplays encompassed during the Female Sexual Response may provide new frameworks and insights for the study of cognition and consciousness, key issues in Cognitive Science.