Eye movements in pedophiles: Automatic and controlled attentional processes while viewing prepubescent stimuli.

Abstract

Recent theories in sexuality highlight the importance of automatic and controlled attentional processes in viewing sexually relevant stimuli. The model of Spiering and Everaerd (2007) assumes that sexually relevant features of a stimulus are preattentively selected and automatically induce focal attention to these sexually relevant aspects. Whether this assumption proves true for pedophiles is unknown. It is aim of this study to test this assumption empirically for people suffering from pedophilic interests. Twenty-two pedophiles, 8 nonpedophilic forensic controls, and 52 healthy controls simultaneously viewed the picture of a child and the picture of an adult while eye movements were measured. Entry time was assessed as a measure of automatic attentional processes and relative fixation time in order to assess controlled attentional processes. Pedophiles demonstrated significantly shorter entry time to child stimuli than to adult stimuli. The opposite was the case for nonpedophiles, as they showed longer relative fixation time for adult stimuli, and, against all expectations, pedophiles also demonstrated longer relative fixation time for adult stimuli. The results confirmed the hypothesis that pedophiles automatically selected sexually relevant stimuli (children). Contrary to all expectations, this automatic selection did not trigger the focal attention to these sexually relevant pictures. Furthermore, pedophiles were first and longest attracted by faces and pubic regions of children; nonpedophiles were first and longest attracted by faces and breasts of adults. The results demonstrated, for the first time, that the face and pubic region are the most attracting regions in children for pedophiles.

Changed processing of visual sexual stimuli under GnRH-therapy – a single case study in pedophilia using eye tracking and fMRI

“…In contrast, concerning automatic attentional processes, the eye-tracking method demonstrated that the ADT did not affect the initial orienting reaction on sexually deviant stimuli: Before and after treatment the patient showed lower fixation latency for images of girls than for images of women. Our previous studies demonstrated fixation latency as a parameter for automatic attentional processes representing the individual sexual preference [36,37]. We conclude that the antiandrogen medication had no impact on the pedophilic preference of the patient.…”

“…Based on the assumption of Spiering et al [35] that sexually relevant features of a stimulus are preattentively selected and automatically trigger focal attention to these sexual aspects, the authors illustrated that the eye tracking method provides the possibility to measure the assumed bias in initial orienting and the maintenance of attention to pedophilic stimuli in pedophiles [36,37]. …”

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

“…Pedophiles demonstrated significantly shorter fixation latencies and significantly longer relative fixation times for child stimuli than either of the control groups. Pedophilic and nonpedophilic individuals could be classified with high sensitivity (86.4%) and specificity (90%) (117,118). Concerning susceptibility to manipulations, a first study demonstrated that healthy hetero-and homosexual subjects (N = 32) could be discriminated with moderate sensitivity (77%) and specificity (86%), even though they had to mask their sexual orientation, while viewing sexual stimuli (119).…”

Development of a Cued Pro- and Antisaccade Paradigm: An Indirect Measure to Explore Automatic Components of Sexual Interest

“…Therefore, using the CPAP could offer new insights, as previous oculomotoric approaches refer to later, supposedly more controllable processes (e.g., time to first fixation > 800 ms, Fromberger et al, 2013; time to first fixation > 700 ms, Dawson & Chivers, 2016).…”