Through functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, scientists for the first time peered into the brains of fully conscious nonhuman primates (marmoset, a tree-dwelling Brazilian monkey) to learn what's really on their minds when it comes to sex.

Common marmosets, like humans, live in family groups and have to make careful choices when confronted with the scent of an attractive female, a team of marmoset experts led by Charles T. Snowdon, UW-Madison professor of psychology, discovered.

"We were surprised to observe high levels of neural activity in areas of the brain important for decision-making, as well as in purely sexual arousal areas, in response to olfactory cues," Snowdon says. "Lighting up far more brightly than we expected were areas associated with decision-making and memory, emotional processing and reward, and cognitive control."

The marmoset fMRI findings add strong weight to the mounting evidence that, when faced with a novel, sexually attractive and receptive female, males even in monogamous species aren't necessarily just acting on some primal urge to procreate, without a second thought. Rather, they exhibit highly organized, complex neural processes. >from *Sex In The Brain: How Do Male Monkeys Evaluate Mates?*. February 3, 2004.

related context
> science in the bedroom: a history of sex research by vern l. bullough. 1994
> the evolution of human sexuality by don symons. 1979
> a history of sex by andres serrano. 1997. more...
> common biological ground for maternal and romantic love in humans. february 13, 2004
> neurobiological basis of romantic love. november 26, 2003
> conflict interaction of couples. october 27, 2003
> biodiversity include sexual diversity. june 14, 2002
> next sex: sex in the age of its procreative superfluousness. ars electronica. september 2-7, 2000

imago
> contained marmoset sex life?