1226 



HANDBOOK OF PHVSIOLOGV 



NEUROPHVSlOLOG'l' U 



4000-1 



3000 



2000 



1000 



SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 

 Heol _ 



E pi I heliol 

 cells 



Nucleated I L 



Leucocytes 



JZL 



SMEAR FINDINGS 



Cornified it I 



TIME I L_ 



X3_ 



I I I I I I 



2 „ 3 



Doys 



FIG. I. Relationship between running activity and vaginal and estrous cycles in the rat. 

 [Adapted from Wang (94).] 



r~n 



subcortical and spinal regions. The effects of genetic 

 background and psychological determinants as well 

 as hormonal influences on quantitati\e differences in 

 mating behavior have been the province of Young (97, 

 98). Beach (10-13) has studied the effects of castration 

 and replacement therapy and has analyzed the results 

 of cortical lesions placed at various developmental 

 periods in the brains of several mammalian forms. 

 Purportedly quantitative reports on human sexual 

 activities have been presented by Kinsey (51, 52). 



METHODS OF .ASSESSING SEX DRIVE 



Stone (90) has defined sex drive as "aroused action 

 tendencies in animals to respond to objects of their 

 external environments that, in some measure, lead 



to the satisfaction or alleviation of dominant physio- 

 logical 'urges' associated with reproduction." The 

 relative merits of modern techniques for assessing this 

 abstract force in quantitati\'e terms ha\-e recently 

 been reviewed by Beach (13), Richter (73) and Young 

 (98). 



Earlv in the 1920's a striking correlation between 

 the periods of estrus and running activit\- in the female 

 rat was oljserved by Wang (94) (fig. i). In periods 

 of anestrus due to pregnancy, pseudopregnancy or 

 lactation, running activity remained at a minimum. 



Ball (4) devised a test of sexual receptivity for 

 female rats in which their response to manual stimu- 

 lation was graded on a lo-point scale. She was able 

 to relate excitability scores with degrees of responsive- 

 ness to the male rat, with changes in the vaginal 

 mucosa, and with onset, duration and termination of 



