Final answer:
The correct answer is c. The textbook's suggestion that orgasm in women quiets brain areas tied to thought and emotion aligns with a suppression of the central executive network. This area of the brain is involved in directing attention and overseeing cognitive processes, which would be decreased during orgasm.
Step-by-step explanation:
The textbook suggests that in women, an orgasm silences brain areas involved in controlling thought and emotion. This suggestion is MOST consistent with the hypothesis that in women, orgasm suppresses activity in the brain's central executive network.
In the context of cognitive neuroscience, the central executive is a conceptual part of working memory that directs attention and manages cognitive processes. It can be contrasted with the default network, which is active when the brain is at wakeful rest and not involved in focused cognitive activities, and the salience network, which is involved in detecting and filtering salient stimuli. The dorsal attention network, on the other hand, is associated with attention to external stimuli. When considering the supposed silencing effect of orgasm on thought and emotion control centers, it aligns with the idea that the orgasmic state would reduce activity in networks responsible for executive control, hence implicating the central executive network.