MEG reveals preference specific increases of sexual-image-evoked responses in paedophilic sexual offenders and healthy controls

TY - JOUR

T1 - MEG reveals preference specific increases of sexual-image-evoked responses in paedophilic sexual offenders and healthy controls

AU - Krylova, Marina

AU - Ristow, Inka

AU - Marr, Vanessa

AU - Borchardt, Viola

AU - Li, Meng

AU - Witzel, Joachim

AU - Drumkova, Krasimira

AU - Harris, Joseph A

AU - Zacharias, Norman

AU - Schiltz, Kolja

AU - Amelung, Till

AU - Beier, Klaus M

AU - Kruger, Tillmann Hc

AU - Ponseti, Jorge

AU - Schiffer, Boris

AU - Walter, Henrik

AU - Kärgel, Christian

AU - Walter, Martin

PY - 2021/4

Y1 - 2021/4

N2 - OBJECTIVES: Paedophilic disorder is characterised by sexual attraction towards children. Classification of a counterpart as sexually attractive likely occurs rapidly, and involves both conscious and unconscious attentional and cognitive processes. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is an imaging method especially well-suited to examine visual and attentional processes triggered by sexual images within the range of milliseconds.METHODS: We investigated brain responses to sexual images depicting adults (frequent) and children (infrequent stimulus) in seventeen paedophilic patients with a history of child sexual offending (P + CSO) and twenty healthy controls (HC) during a passive visual oddball paradigm. Event-related fields (ERF) were measured to extract the magnetic visual mismatch negativity (vMMNm), and how it relates to the processing of different classes of sexual stimuli.RESULTS: P + CSO exhibited significantly longer vMMNm latencies (100-180 ms post-stimulus) than HC. Moreover, P + CSO showed widespread increased amplitudes in response to child images starting from P3a and P3b components and lasting up to 400 ms post-stimulus presentation localised in frontal and temporal brain regions.CONCLUSIONS: This study uncovers the first MEG differences in automatic change detection between P + CSO and HC during the presentation of subliminal sexual images of adults and children, contributing towards a better understanding of the neurobiological processes of P + CSO.

AB - OBJECTIVES: Paedophilic disorder is characterised by sexual attraction towards children. Classification of a counterpart as sexually attractive likely occurs rapidly, and involves both conscious and unconscious attentional and cognitive processes. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is an imaging method especially well-suited to examine visual and attentional processes triggered by sexual images within the range of milliseconds.METHODS: We investigated brain responses to sexual images depicting adults (frequent) and children (infrequent stimulus) in seventeen paedophilic patients with a history of child sexual offending (P + CSO) and twenty healthy controls (HC) during a passive visual oddball paradigm. Event-related fields (ERF) were measured to extract the magnetic visual mismatch negativity (vMMNm), and how it relates to the processing of different classes of sexual stimuli.RESULTS: P + CSO exhibited significantly longer vMMNm latencies (100-180 ms post-stimulus) than HC. Moreover, P + CSO showed widespread increased amplitudes in response to child images starting from P3a and P3b components and lasting up to 400 ms post-stimulus presentation localised in frontal and temporal brain regions.CONCLUSIONS: This study uncovers the first MEG differences in automatic change detection between P + CSO and HC during the presentation of subliminal sexual images of adults and children, contributing towards a better understanding of the neurobiological processes of P + CSO.

U2 - 10.1080/15622975.2020.1789216

DO - 10.1080/15622975.2020.1789216

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 32623929

VL - 22

SP - 257

EP - 270

JO - WORLD J BIOL PSYCHIA

JF - WORLD J BIOL PSYCHIA

SN - 1562-2975

IS - 4

ER -