| Sumario: | Sexual-arousal is a process that is essential for the survival of the species. The development of its underlying neural networks and their input and output units is genetically controlled, starting in the fetus and maturing at puberty. The mental programs that control the process are learned, and they depend on the person's experiences and innate make-up. These programs identify arousers based on their gender and on other stimulating qualities that they possess. The programs are recorded in the brain as changes of synaptic weights. The mental programs are developed unconsciously during childhood, based on non-sexual experiences. At puberty, they are ready to control the activity of the mature sex organs. After puberty, newer programs are learned, based on sexual experiences. Like in many other behaviors, the unconscious development of these mental programs is based on conditioning. They evolve from root unconditioned stimuli (US) and root unconditioned responses (UR). (A dog can develop elaborate behavior patterns based on the taste of food (the root US) and salivation (the root UR)). A recent model has suggested that the pitch of human voice is the innate root US, based on which a person learns to identify the sex of another person. A combination of the feelings of fear and safety is the innate root US, based on which sexual-arousal emotions evolve. Elaborate sexual-arousal behaviors that vary from person to person emerge from these innate roots, which are common to all humans. The amygdala is involved in sexual-arousal due to the fear and safety emotions, which are parts of this process. This article presents the rationale for the model and for the role of the amygdala, and discusses related experimental findings.
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