Sexual Motivation: A Comparative Approach in Vertebrate Species

Purpose of the Review: We review three different components of sexual motivation: appetitive behaviors, sexual incentive motivation, and paced mating in rats, mice and voles. These components occur in semi-natural or natural conditions. We also described behaviors in other species that are indicative of sexual motivation. Recent Findings: Sexual motivation is the mechanism responsible for activating, directing, and causing persistence of behaviors directed towards a sexual incentive. Appropriate sexual motivation is crucial for the survival of any species that reproduces sexually, but not for the survival of any individual. We describe the possible role of the social decision-making network in sexual motivation whereby dopamine is involved in wanting sex, opioids are involved in liking sex, and oxytocin is involved in pair bond formation. Brain areas and neuromodulators in the social decision-making network are common across vertebrate lineage. Summary: Understanding the variables involved in sexual motivation in different species can lead to a framework of basic mechanisms of sexual motivation, and such a framework could help us understand human sexual motivation. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.