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

Tools

Item Type:	Article
Title:	MEG reveals preference specific increases of sexual-image-evoked responses in paedophilic sexual offenders and healthy controls
Creators Name:	Krylova, M., Ristow, I., Marr, V., Borchardt, V., Li, M., Witzel, J., Drumkova, K., Harris, J.A., Zacharias, N., Schiltz, K., Amelung, T., Beier, K.M., Kruger, T.H.C., Ponseti, J., Schiffer, B., Walter, H., Kärgel, C. and Walter, M.
Abstract:	OBJECTIVES: Paedophilic disorder is characterized 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 (100-180ms 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 400ms post-stimulus presentation localized 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.
Keywords:	Attention, Brain Imaging, Event-Related Brain Potentials, Magnetoencephalography, Paedophilia
Source:	World Journal of Biological Psychiatry
ISSN:	1562-2975
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Volume:	22
Number:	4
Page Range:	257-270
Date:	April 2021
Official Publication:	https://doi.org/10.1080/15622975.2020.1789216
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

Repository Staff Only: item control page