Psychophysiology of ejaculatory function and dysfunction.

Psychophysiological research has attempted to understand the relationship between subjective psychological experiences (perceptive, affective, cognitive) and physical/physiological components of sexual response, including erection and ejaculation. Such research has enabled the investigation of a number of hypotheses related to the etiology and/or cause of premature ejaculation (PE), with a number of important clarifications resulting. For example, in PE men, genital stimulation (as opposed to erotic stimulation in general) is particularly germane to dysfunctional response. Autonomic (parasympathetic and sympathetic) response patterns may be altered during the sexual response cycle. Anomalous patterns of arousal are probably involved, though not necessarily in ways that had been conceptualized originally (e.g., hyperarousal). And psychosomatic interactions between negative emotion, autonomic response, and rapid ejaculation may sustain the dysfunctional response. The results of this research dispel long-standing hypotheses regarding the etiology of PE, help refocus attention to areas of importance, and raise entirely new questions regarding possible causes of PE.