Sexual incentive motivation, sexual behavior, and general arousal: Do rats and humans tell the same story?

Sexual incentive stimuli activate sexual motivation and heighten the level of general arousal. The sexual motive may induce the individual to approach the incentive, and eventually to initiate sexual acts. Both approach and the ensuing copulatory interaction further enhance general arousal. We present data from rodents and humans in support of these assertions. We then suggest that orgasm is experienced when the combined level of excitation surpasses a threshold. In order to analyze the neurobiological bases of sexual motivation, we employ the concept of a central motive state. We then discuss the mechanisms involved in the long- and short-term control of that state as well as those mediating the momentaneous actions of sexual incentive stimuli. This leads to an analysis of the neurobiology behind the interindividual differences in responsivity of the sexual central motive state. Knowledge is still fragmentary, and many contradictory observations have been made. Nevertheless, we conclude that the basic mechanisms of sexual motivation and the role of general arousal are similar in rodents and humans. •Sexual motivation is activated by external stimuli called sexual incentives.•Exposure to sexual incentives leads also to enhanced general arousal.•General arousal enhances activity in the sexual central motive state.•Activity in the sexual central motive state requires the presence of gonadal hormones.•The determinants of interindividual differences in sexual motivation are unclear.