Citation

Carrier Emond F, Nolet K, Rochat L, Rouleau JL, Gagnon J. Sex. Abuse 2019; ePub(ePub): 1079063219825866.

Affiliation

Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1079063219825866

PMID

30694102

Abstract

Response inhibition is defined as one's ability to voluntarily override an automatic or already initiated action when that action is inappropriate. Although a core mechanism of self-control, its association with sexual coercion perpetration and the impact of erotic cues on its exertion remain unknown. According to a domain-specific perspective on impulsivity, response inhibition performances should be disproportionately hindered by sexual cues in sexual coercion perpetrators. In total, 94 male college students completed a stop-signal task that included neutral, emotional, and erotic distracters.

RESULTS showed that men who reported past use of sexual coercion obtained overall poorer stop-signal task (SST) performances. Highly arousing sexual stimuli equally hindered the performances of perpetrators and non-perpetrators, whereas moderately arousing sexual and nonsexual positive stimuli did not significantly affect performances.

RESULTS do not support a domain-specific perspective on the link between response inhibition and sexual coercion, but rather suggest generally poorer inhibitory control among sexual coercion perpetrators.

Language: en

Keywords

impulsivity; response inhibition; sexual coercion perpetration; stop-signal task