At least 42.7% of adult women have experienced orgasm during sleep and they have significantly higher mean Female Genital Self-Image scores than women who have not experienced orgasm during sleep

Things that Go Bump in the Night: Prevalence, Genital Self-Image, and Experiences of Women Who Orgasm during Sleep. Lyndsay Irene Mercier. 2020. https://search.proquest.com/openview/c40abd9d43107928abe193964ea8cd11/1

Abstract: Despite being a common occurrence among girls and women, the distinct female (assigned at birth) experience of orgasm during sleep had not been formally studied in over 33 years, yet it has a long history of pathologizing that continues today. This study used a quantitative correlational research design with descriptive elements informed by a feminist paradigm. Findings update the research base surrounding this phenomenon, here called somnus orgasm (SO). It examined the prevalence and frequency of SO among 1,248 adult women, the largest study of its kind. Over half of this study’s participants were age 31 or older, with 21.7% age 41 or older. In this regard, this study is the first of its kind to capture the experiences of older women. The relationship between SO and Female Genital Self-Image was assessed and women’s reported feelings and reactions to their SO experiences were captured. Results indicated that at least 42.7% of adult women have experienced orgasm during sleep and that they have significantly higher mean Female Genital Self-Image Scores than women who have not experienced orgasm during sleep. Responses from open-ended questions indicated that most participants view their SO experiences overall as positive events, although many reported negative reactions to their first or early SO occurrences. Findings from this study may serve to reduce the stigma and erroneous association of SO with abnormality or deviancy by adding to the evidence that female orgasm during sleep is a common experience for women and girls.

Keywords: female orgasm, sleep orgasm, female genital self-image, somnus orgasm

Why some memories are prioritized over others, why memory loss sometimes leads to impaired decision-making, and why decisions are shaped by regret and counterfactual thinking

What Are Memories For? The Hippocampus Bridges Past Experience with Future Decisions. Natalie Biderman, Akram Bakkour, Daphna Shohamy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, June 5 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2020.04.004

Highlights
.  Memory plays a pervasive role in flexible decision-making that depends on inference, generalization, and deliberation.

.  This function of memory in decision-making is supported by the hippocampus, suggesting that the role of the hippocampus may be to create a record of the past in the service of future behavior.

.  This view reconciles findings from the fields of memory and decision-making. It offers new insight into why some memories are prioritized over others, why memory loss sometimes leads to impaired decision-making, and why decisions are shaped by regret and counterfactual thinking.

Abstract: Many decisions require flexible reasoning that depends on inference, generalization, and deliberation. Here, we review emerging findings indicating that the hippocampus, known for its role in long-term memory, contributes to these flexible aspects of value-based decision-making. This work offers new insights into the role of memory in decision-making and suggests that memory may shape decisions even in situations that do not appear, at first glance, to depend on memory at all. Uncovering the pervasive role of memory in decision-making challenges the way we define what memory is and what it does, suggesting that memory’s primary purpose may be to guide future behavior and that storing a record of the past is just one way to do so.

Keywords: memorydecision-makingamnesiahippocampusvalue

Estimations of Typical, Ideal, Premature Ejaculation, and Actual Latencies by Men and Female Sexual Partners of Men During Partnered Sex

Côté-Léger P, Rowland DL. Estimations of Typical, Ideal, Premature Ejaculation, and Actual Latencies by Men and Female Sexual Partners of Men During Partnered Sex. J Sex Med 2020;XX:XXX–XXX. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1743609520305348

Abstract
Background: The ejaculation latency (ELT) criterion for men with premature ejaculation (PE), including its 2 major subtypes of lifelong and acquired, relies heavily on expert opinion, yet such information represents only one source of data for this determination; furthermore, information regarding ELTs for PE within specific subgroups of men (eg, gay, bisexual) has been lacking.

Aim: To obtain data regarding men's lived experiences and expectations regarding typical ejaculation, ideal ejaculation, and PE and (for men) self-reported ejaculatory latencies during partnered sex across a variety a groups, including men vs women (ie, sexual partners of men), men with and without PE, and straight vs gay/bisexual men.

Methods: We recruited 1,065 men and sexual partners of men, asking them to estimate typical ejaculation, ideal ejaculation, and PE and (for men) self-latencies through an online survey posted on social media. Demographics, sexual identity, and sexual response data were also collected.

Results: Typical and self-reported ELTs were closely aligned with those reported in the literature, with ideal ELTs generally longer than typical ELTs. Median PE ELTs were consistently estimated around 1.5 min, with nearly all subgroups—men vs women; straight vs gay; PE and non-PE men—showing alignment on this criterion. Men with lifelong PE did not differ from men with acquired PE in either their PE ELT estimation or their self-reported ELT.

Clinical Implications: The data support the idea of extending the latency cutoff for establishing a PE diagnosis beyond the current 1-minute threshold.

Strengths & Limitations: A large sample size drawn from a multinational population powered the study, whereas the use of social media for recruitment and lack of inclusion of lesbian and asexual individuals may have missed relevant data from some who have had sexual experience with men.

Conclusion: Straight and nonstraight men do not differ in their ELT estimations. In addition, the use of different ELT criteria for lifelong vs acquired PE may be unnecessary.

Key Words: Ejaculation LatenciesPremature Ejaculation LatenciesLifelongAcquiredPerceived Typical Ejaculation Latencies

Dissertation: An Examination of Sexual Fantasy And Infidelity

Haus, Katherine Rose, "AN EXAMINATION OF SEXUAL FANTASY AND INFIDELITY" (2020). Univ of Kentucky Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion. 77. https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2020.263

Abstract: Infidelity is a common behavior, influencing many people within romantic relationships (Mark & Haus, 2019). Many factors have been linked to increased infidelity engagement, but no studies exist documenting the role of sexual fantasy regarding infidelity. One such predictor of infidelity is need fulfillment, or the extent to which one’s needs are fulfilled in their relationship (Le & Agnew, 2001). Sexual fantasy is a highly common, but largely understudied sexual behavior (Lehmiller, 2018). Therefore, the aims of the current study were: 1) to document the role that sexual fantasy and need fulfillment play in infidelity, 2) to determine any potential gender differences in sexual fantasy themes and 3) to determine whether any particular type of sexual fantasy predicted infidelity. Thus, 1,062 adults in romantic relationships were recruited through a combination of social media (n = 265) and the social networking site Ashley Madison® (n = 797) to take part in an online survey. Participants provided their demographics and completed the Wilson Sexual Fantasy Questionnaire (SFQ; Wilson, 2010), the Infidelity Intentions scale (Jones et al., 2010), and a Needs-Fulfillment Measure (Le & Agnew, 2001). An independent samples t-test indicated significant gender differences in type of fantasy such that women fantasized more so than did men about sadomasochistic fantasies, but men fantasized more than did women about intimate, exploratory, and impersonal sexual fantasies. Hierarchical multivariate regression indicated lower levels of need fulfillment to be predictive of higher levels of infidelity intentions among women and men, and higher frequency of sexual fantasy to be predictive of higher levels of infidelity intentions among men. Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated exploratory fantasy to be the most salient predictor of infidelity engagement, but was only significant among women, such that women who fantasized more frequently about exploratory fantasies were less likely to engage in physical infidelity. The findings of this study contribute to what is known about sexual fantasy and indicate that it may have a more salient role in infidelity intentions and engagement than previously thought.

1. Having sexual intercourse out of doors in a romantic setting (e.g. field of flowers, beach at night)
2. Having intercourse with a loved partner
3. Intercourse with someone you know but have not had sex with
4. Intercourse with an anonymous stranger
5. Sex with two other people
6. Participating in an orgy
7. Being forced to do something
8. Forcing someone to do something
9. Same-sex sexual behavior
10. Receiving oral sex
11. Giving oral sex
12. Watching others have sex
13. Sex with an animal
14. Whipping or spanking someone
15. Being whipped or spanked
16. Taking someone's clothes off
17. Having your clothes taken off
18. Having sex somewhere other than the bedroom
19. Being excited by material or clothing (e.g. rubber, leather, underwear)
20. Hurting a partner
21. Being hurt by a partner
22. Partner-swapping
23. Being aroused by watching someone urinate
24. Being tied up
25. Tying someone up
26. Having incestuous sexual relationships
27. Exposing yourself
28. Being promiscuous
29 Having sex with someone much younger than yourself
30. Having sex with someone much older than yourself
31. Being much sought after by the opposite sex
32. Being seduced as an "innocent"
33. Seducing an "innocent"
34. Being embarrassed by failure of sexual performance
35. Using objects for stimulation (e.g. vibrators, candles)
36. Being masturbated to orgasm by a partner
37. Looking at obscene pictures or films
38. Kissing Passionately