Female sexual response to audiovisual stimuli in 2D/3D modality and first/third person perspective stance

Abstract

Abstract The study investigates the effect of sexually explicit video stimuli displayed in a different modality (3D vs. 2D) and perspective (first vs. third person) on female sexual arousal, both subjective and genital, valence ratings, and sexual and general presence. We exposed 47 heterosexual female participants to four stimuli, two displayed on a flat screen and two using a VR headset. We used almost identical videos in both modalities and perspectives, thus eliminating any confounding variables caused by using different videos. We measured genital arousal via vaginal photoplethysmography (VPG) and subjective responses using questionnaires. We did not find any differences in modality or perspective in genital arousal. 2D videos were considered more subjectively arousing than the 3D videos (d = 0.33, p = 0.02). 2D videos and third-person perspective videos elicited stronger feelings of sexual (2D/3D: d = 0.86, p < 0.001; first/third person: d = 0.50, p < 0.001) and general presence (2D/3D: d = 1.09, p < 0.001; first/third person: d = 0.75, p < 0.001 ) than 3D videos and first-person perspective videos. Our findings are in discord with the previous studies. We discuss the possible causes of the observed differences.