美科学家用核磁共振首度破解女性性高潮之谜

2010/11/09 20:53:00

美国科学家首度用核磁共振成像(MRI)仪器破解女性性高潮之谜。

据英国《星期日泰晤士报》报道说，科学家们扫描女性性高潮时的脑部变化照片发现，性高潮过程涉及逾30个不同脑区，而且在达到高潮的每一阶段，脑部活动都会增加，不但影响脑内的回馈线路，负责理想思考的脑区也会受影响，让痛楚感觉暂时纾减。

美国新泽西州拉特格斯大学脑神经科研人员利用计算机扫描，首次拍摄女性在进入和达到性高潮时的脑部活动情况。研究中，8名女性躺进磁力共振成像扫描机(FMRIS)内，盖上毛毯自慰，仪器每隔两秒就拍下一张脑扫描照。大部分人能在5分钟内达到高潮，一些人则需时20分钟。

参加者以举手示意达到高潮，结果发现，部分女性在一个阶段内多次举手，而且仅相隔数秒，反映女性性高潮时间较长，而且会连续经历多次。女性性高潮大多维持10至15秒，亦有其它研究指平均不足20分钟。研究员下一步计划对男性进行同类的脑部素描，研究女性性高潮是否比男性持久和更深入。

What women think during an orgasm Sneak-a-peek inside a woman’s brain while she is having orgasm would now be possible, thanks to a scan developed by American scientists. Rutgers University researchers have discovered that sexual arousal numbs the female nervous system to such an extent that she doesn’t feel as much pain-only pleasure. Orgasm affects up to 30 different parts of the brain including those responsible for emotion, touch, joy, satisfaction and memory, found researchers. The researchers asked eight women to stimulate themselves while lying under a blanket inside a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner, a tunnel-like machine often used to detect brain tumours. Most women took less than five minutes to reach an orgasm although some took as long as 20. During that time, the MRI scanner took images of their brain every two seconds to show which parts became active during the orgasm. The scientists found that two minutes before the orgasm, the brain’s reward centres become active, the areas usually activated when eating food and drink. Immediately before they reached the peak, other areas of the brain became affected such as the sensory cortex, which receives ‘‘touch’’ messages from parts of the body and the thalamus, which relays signals to other parts of the body. Once the orgasm has started other parts of the brain are activated such as those responsible for emotion. The final part of the brain to be activated is the hypothalamus, the ‘‘control’’ part of the brain, which regulates temperature, hunger, thirst and tiredness. At the same time another area responsible for pleasure is activated - the nucleus accumbens - as well as the caudate nucleus, which is responsible for memory. “In women, orgasm produces a very extensive response across the brain and body,” the Daily Mail quoted Barry Komisaruk of Rutgers University as saying. “Some women raised their hands several times each session, often just a few seconds apart. So the evidence is that women tend to have longer orgasms and can experience several in rapid succession,” said Komisaruk. A woman’s orgasm last an average of 10-15 seconds, whilst a man’s is thought to last for just six seconds.