TYpe a behavior, distraction, and sexual arousal

Type A (n = 54) and Type B (n = 64) males were simultaneously exposed to an erotic audio tape and either low or high distraction in the form of a simple or a complex visual numbers task. Distraction was found to be inversely associated with knowledge of (attention to) the erotic tape, subjective arousal, and self-reported genital excitement. Type As and Type Bs experienced equivalent levels of sexual arousal when distraction was low, and parallel decrements in arousal when distraction was more severe. In contrast, their attentional responses differed sharply. Whereas Type Bs directed greater attention to erotica when distraction was low than when distraction was high, Type As maintained a consistently low level of attention with respect to the sexual material. Conversely, as indicated by their superior performance on the classification task, Type A males maintained significantly greater attention to the nonsexual material than did Type Bs.