Here we have the world’s first MRI of a woman during self-stimulated orgasm (at least that’s what researchers are saying – there have been MRI scans previously of different types of orgasm, sexual copulations, and even breatherotic breathing orgasms).
In the video, you can clearly see the brain goes from a quiet red to a much more active yellow-white, as synapses fire and oxygen levels change.
The Guardian describes the experiment that led to the video which was pieced together using images from a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. The woman volunteer is Nan Wise, 54-year-old PhD student and sex therapist, who lay in scanner and stimulated herself to orgasm. “It’s my dissertation,” Wise reports. “I’m committed to it.” The full story is at http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/nov/14/female-orgasm-recorded-brain-scans.
Professor Barry R. Komisaruk (http://thevisualmd.com/expert_panel/barry_r_komisaruk_phd) a psychologist at Rutgers University, explains the experiment:
The human brain can be separated into regions based on structure and function – vision, audition, body sensation, etc, known as Brodmann’s area map.
This visualization shows the functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI, brain data of a participant experiencing an orgasm and the corresponding relationships seen within these different regions based on utilization of oxygen levels in the blood. 20 snapshots in time of the fMRI data are taken from a 7 minute sequence. Over the course of the 7 minutes the participant approaches orgasm, reaches orgasm and then enters a quiet period.
Oxygen utilization levels are displayed on a spectrum from dark red (lowest activity) to yellow/white (highest). As can be observed, an orgasm leads to almost the entire brain illuminating yellow, indicating that most brain systems become active at orgasm.
As you can see in the video, there is quite a bit of activity — changing in intensity throughout — across approximately 80 separate parts of the brain right before, during, and after orgasm. The only thing that stimulates a woman’s brain to a higher degree so intensely would be an epileptic seizure. Komisaruk calls the orgasm process a “brain symphony,” and notes that he and his team hope to figure out what goes wrong in both men and women who cannot reach sexual climax:
“It’s a beautiful system in which to study the brain’s connectivity. We expect that this movie, a dynamic representation of the gradual buildup of brain activity to a climax, followed by resolution, will facilitate our understanding of pathological conditions such as anorgasmia by emphasizing where in the brain the sequential process breaks down.”
Please note, you must be a Basic Member of the site to access this video, it’s a simple signup and it’s free! Here’s the video of the first MRI of Human Female Orgasm:
This content is for members only.
See more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/nov/14/female-orgasm-recorded-brain-scans and http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2011/11/15/only-epilepsy-brings-more-activity-to-womens-brains-than-does-self-stimulation-to-orgasm/.
The video is courtesy the Visual MD at http://www.thevisualmd.com/media_gallery_slice.php?idu=10597&idc=998.
All the best,
Brian
http://www.briandavidphillips.com
