NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL
CORRELATES
TO EMOTIONAL STIMULI
IN TRANSSEXUALS
M. MOLO, S. VIGHETTI , L. CASTELLI , E. CAPPAI , P. PEROZZO
16 th WORLD CONGRESS OF SEXOLOGY
M.T. Molo, P. Cantafio, G. Covacci, I. Ancora
Psychodiagnostic Evaluation of Transsexuality
XII° World Congress of Sexology, Yokohama, 1995
Boncinelli V., Dalla Giusta G., Molo M.T.
Neurolological structure, cognitive ability and gender
identity, XIV° World Congress of Sexology, Hong
Kong, 1999
Ristori S., Perozzo P., Cappai E., Molo M.T., Castelli
L., Vighetti S. Cardiac neurovegetative response to
emotional stimuli, ISPNE Regional congress, 2001
Perozzo P, Cappai E, Castelli L, Sassu O, Vighetti S,
Molo M.T. La risposta emozionale a stimoli visivi a
contenuto erotico in soggetti transessuali, In: Baldaro
Verde J, Genazzani AR, (Eds) Identità sessuale:
percorsi a confronto. CIC, 2002 Roma.
Lang proposed the “bio-informational model of
emotion”
in
which
emotional
perception
involves multiple components such as verbal,
visceral and behavioural responses. According
to this model, emotional response is organized
along the two main dimensions of valence and
arousal, considered as primitive motivation
parameters, involved in subcortical brain areas
(1979,1984).
 Comparison between groups for each set of slides.
CORRUGATOR
ZYGOMATIC
Male vs Female: ns
Male vs Female: ns
FtM vs MtF: positive slides (FtM > MtF)
FtM vs MtF: female nudes (FtM > MtF)
Male vs FtM: ns
Male vs FtM: ns
Female vs MtF: ns
Female vs MtF: ns
 Comparisons between activation at different slides in each subgroups
CORRUGATOR
Negative vs neutral: ns
ZYGOMATIC
Negative vs Neutral : ns
Positive vs Neutral: male (positive < neutral), MtF Positive vs Neutral: ns
(positive <neutral)
Female nudes vs Neutral: FtM (female nudes
Female nudes vs Neutral: male (female nudes < > neutral)
neutral)
Male nude vs Neutral: male (male nudes <
neutral)
Male nudes vs Neutral: ns
MALE
1,00
Zygomatic
1,00
0,46
0,02
-0,10
0,00
-0,11
-0,19
0,65
0,56
0,44
0,50
Z-SCORES
Z-SCORES
0,50
corrugator
FtM
corrugator
Zygomatic
-0,11
-0,36-0,33
0,36
0,33
0,16
-0,09
0,00
-0,17
-0,31
-0,52
-0,50
-0,50
-0,97
-0,88
-1,00
-1,00
NE
UT
RA
L
NE
PO
GA
SIT
TIV
IVE
E
NE
UT
RA
L
FE
MA
MA
LE
LE
NU
NU
DE
DE
S
S
NE
GA
TIV
E
corrugator
FEMALE
PO
S IT
IVE
FE
MA
LE
NU
DE
S
NU
DE
S
corrugator
MtF
Zygomatic
MA
LE
Zygomatic
1,00
0,51
0,48
1,00
0,24
0,10
0,00
0,39
0,50
-0,01
-0,22
-0,27
-0,16
-0,48
-0,50
Z-SCORES
Z-SCORES
0,50
0,37
0,14
0,09
0,00
-0,26-0,21
-0,46
-0,34
-0,48
-0,50
-0,69
-0,82
-1,00
-1,00
NE
UTR
AL
NEG
AT
IVE
PO
SIT
IVE
FEM
MA
LE
AL
NU
EN
DES
UD
ES
NE
UT
RA
L
NEG
ATI
VE
PO
SIT
IVE
FEM
MA
LE
ALE
NU
NU
DES
DES