title: Abnormal amygdala activation profile in pedophilia.
abstract: Despite considerable public interest research in neurobiological correlates of pedophilia is scarce. Since amygdala activation is central for emotional valuation, arousal, and salience, we investigated the activation profile of this structure in 10 male subjects with pedophilia (exclusively attracted to boys), all convicted sex-offenders and sentenced to forensic psychiatric treatment along with ten male heterosexual matched controls. We used a sexually non-explicit functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) paradigm with images of men, women, boys or girls randomly embedded in neutral target/non-target geometrical symbols. We applied statistical parametric mapping (SPM2) and SPSS 14 for image processing and analysis. While controls activated significantly less to pictures of children compared to adults, the activation profile was reversed in subjects with pedophilia, who exhibited significantly more activation to children than adults. The highest activation was observed for boys in the patient group, and for women in control participants. Our data show enhanced activation to children's pictures even in an incidental context and suggest the provocative hypothesis that a normally present mechanism for reduced emotional arousal for children relative to adults is reversed in pedophilia, suggesting a neural substrate associated with deviant sexual preference in this condition. More extensive research in this field would be of benefit for both the victims and the offenders.
authors.affiliation: Central Institute of Mental Health, J5, 68159, Mannheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sartorius
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ruf
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kief
authors.forename: Traute
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Demirakca
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bailer
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ende
authors.forename: Fritz A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Henn
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meyer-Lindenberg
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dressing
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D010378:Pedophilia / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology