Brain alterations in paedophilia: A critical review

Mohnke, Sebastian; Müller, Sabine; Amelung, Till; Krüger, Tillmann H.C.; Ponseti, Jorge; Schiffer, Boris; Walter, Martin; Beier, Klaus M.; Walter, Henrik

doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2014.07.005

Cited by 84 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…However, these earlier studies did not distinguish between pedophilia and child sexual abuse. Recent reviews and meta-analyses investigating differences between individuals sexually oriented toward children and individuals sexually oriented toward adults revealed that their brain structures are very similar in nature (17,62,63). As indicated by two recent studies, aberrant neuroanatomy might rather be associated with child sexual abuse than with pedophilia (64,65).…”

Section: Structural Imagingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are There Any Biomarkers for Pedophilia and Sexual Child Abuse? A Review

et al. 2020

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The use of biomarkers in medicine is a common and valuable approach in several clinical fields. Understanding the relationship between measurable biological processes and clinical outcomes not only is indispensable in the face of understanding physiological processes in healthy as well as in diseased organisms but also for understanding and evaluating treatment effects. Therefore, also in the context of forensic psychiatry, biomarkers and their potentially beneficial effects are of growing interest. The objective of this review is to examine if there are biomarkers that may serve as a tool to support diagnostic process, treatment evaluation, and risk assessment of pedophilic individuals and child sexual offenders. In the first part, we present an overview of the current neurobiological, as well as physiological and psychophysiological approaches to characterize pedophilia and child sexual offending. Secondly, we discuss and evaluate the impact of these approaches on the development of biomarkers for diagnosis, therapy, and risk assessment in pedophilic subjects and child sexual offenders. We conclude that a lot of research has already enhanced our neurobiological knowledge about pedophilia and child sexual offending. Although there surely exist promising parameters and approaches, in our view currently none of these is ready yet to serve as a clinically applicable diagnostic, response, or predictive biomarker for pedophilia and child sexual offending. Therefore, further work remains to be done. The development of a composite diagnostic biomarker to assess deviant sexual interest, combining several measures like functional magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalogram, eye tracking, and behavioral approaches seems to be most promising. A valid and reliable measurement of deviant sexual interest, insensitive to manipulations could significantly support clinical diagnostic process. Similarly, regarding therapy evaluation and risk assessment, a composite biomarker to assess inhibitory control functions seems to be promising. Furthermore, the application of the Research Domain Criteria-approach, a new approach for investigating and classifying mental disorders, offers the possibility to take research to a new level.

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Section: Structural Imagingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are There Any Biomarkers for Pedophilia and Sexual Child Abuse? A Review

et al. 2020

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“…A neurophenomenologic model of sexual arousal [7,8] based on functional studies from MRI and PET [9,10] delineates an itinerary of brain pathway activation during the processes of sexual arousal and orgasm. The model identifies specific brain regions that are typically activated in the cognitive, motivational, emotional, and physiologic components identified in healthy men exposed to sexually arousing cues [7,11,12].…”

Section: The Itinerary Of Brain Activation During Sexual Arousalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuroimaging and Sexual Behavior: Identification of Regional and Functional Differences

Cheng

Secondary

Burke

et al. 2015

Curr Psychiatry Rep

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The neuroanatomical correlates of human sexual desire, arousal, and behavior have been characterized in recent years with functional brain imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). Here, we briefly review the results of functional neuroimaging studies in humans, whether healthy or suffering from sexual disorders, and the current models of regional and network activation in sexual arousal. Attention is paid, in particular, to findings from both regional and network studies in the past 3 years. We also identify yet unanswered and pressing questions of interest to areas of ongoing investigations for psychiatric, scientific, and forensic disciplines.

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“…To further the understanding of potential neural dysfunctions underlying pedophilia and/or CSO the assessment of neuroimaging methods may be of high relevance. However, up to now, studies addressing the neurobiological correlates in this regard are scarce and most of them showed inconsistent results [Mohnke et al, ; Tenbergen et al, ]. The only replicated finding is limited to an amygdala volume reduction in offending pedophiles [Poeppl et al, ; Schiffer et al, ; Schiltz et al, ], although other authors using more stringent type‐1 error correction did not corroborate this result [Cantor et al, ; Cantor et al, ; Gerwinn et al, ], suggesting insufficient effect sizes of the aberrant amygdala volume.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Differences in the composition of comparison groups regarding both experimental and control groups, mostly small sample sizes, and the usage of deliberate statistical thresholds among previous studies have been identified to be major methodological issues in the discussion of what might explain the contradictory findings. For an exhaustive discussion of this topic, please see Mohnke et al [2014]. While some studies controlled for the influence of offence status by comparing groups of offending pedophiles with non-sexual offenders [Cantor et al, 2008[Cantor et al, , 2015Poeppl et al, 2011], other studies compared (mixed groups of non-offending and) offending pedophiles with non-pedophilic non-offenders [Habermeyer et al, 2013a[Habermeyer et al, , 2013bSchiffer et al, 2007].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for superior neurobiological and behavioral inhibitory control abilities in non-offending as compared to offending pedophiles

et al. 2016

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Neurobehavioral models of pedophilia and child sexual offending suggest a pattern of temporal and in particular prefrontal disturbances leading to inappropriate behavioral control and subsequently an increased propensity to sexually offend against children. However, clear empirical evidence for such mechanisms is still missing. Using a go/nogo paradigm in combination with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we compared behavioral performance and neural response patterns among three groups of men matched for age and IQ: pedophiles with (N = 40) and without (N = 37) a history of hands-on sexual offences against children as well as healthy non-offending controls (N = 40). As compared to offending pedophiles, non-offending pedophiles exhibited superior inhibitory control as reflected by significantly lower rate of commission errors. Group-by-condition interaction analysis also revealed inhibition-related activation in the left posterior cingulate and the left superior frontal cortex that distinguished between offending and non-offending pedophiles, while no significant differences were found between pedophiles and healthy controls. Both areas showing distinct activation pattern among pedophiles play a critical role in linking neural networks that relate to effective cognitive functioning. Data therefore suggest that heightened inhibition-related recruitment of these areas as well as decreased amount of commission errors is related to better inhibitory control in pedophiles who successfully avoid committing hands-on sexual offences against children. Hum Brain Mapp 38:1092-1104, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Brain alterations in paedophilia: A critical review

Cited by 84 publications

References 93 publications

Are There Any Biomarkers for Pedophilia and Sexual Child Abuse? A Review

Are There Any Biomarkers for Pedophilia and Sexual Child Abuse? A Review

Neuroimaging and Sexual Behavior: Identification of Regional and Functional Differences

Evidence for superior neurobiological and behavioral inhibitory control abilities in non-offending as compared to offending pedophiles

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