Objectives: Erotic stimuli lead to activations in various brain regions, including the reward system.Several neuroimaging studies have investigated neurofunctional activations during visual eroticstimulation. Little research has investigated whether these functional activations are characterisedby an intrinsic network architecture in the resting-state.

Methods: We therefore examined 37 healthy male heterosexual subjects by combiningresting-state and task-related fMRI. In task-related fMRI, we used an established video clip task(erotic and non-erotic video clips). Vectors comprising different neuronal activations during theprocessing of visual erotic stimuli were then correlated with the strength of resting-state functionalconnectivity between two core regions of the human reward system (NAcc and midbrain).

Results: We observed an increase in neurofunctional activations in cortical and subcortical regionspreviously described in task-based fMRI studies during visual erotic stimulation. Increased rs-FCbetween midbrain and NAcc was associated with higher differential neuronal responsiveness insubcortical regions, particularly in the hypothalamus, thalamus and periaqueductal grey.

Conclusion: Our results support the role of the mesolimbic reward pathway in the processing oferotic stimuli. In particular they show that a higher rs-FC between midbrain and NAcc facilitatesthe simultaneous activation of subcortical brain regions that are relevant for the integration ofprocesses in sexual behaviour.