Human face processing is tuned to sexual age preferences.
Human faces can motivate nurturing behaviour or sexual behaviour when adults see a child or an adult face, respectively. This suggests that face processing is tuned to detecting age cues of sexual maturity to stimulate the appropriate reproductive behaviour: either caretaking or mating. In paedophilia, sexual attraction is directed to sexually immature children. Therefore, we hypothesized that brain networks that normally are tuned to mature faces of the preferred gender show an abnormal tuning to sexual immature faces in paedophilia. Here, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test directly for the existence of a network which is tuned to face cues of sexual maturity. During fMRI, participants sexually attracted to either adults or children were exposed to various face images. In individuals attracted to adults, adult faces activated several brain regions significantly more than child faces. These brain regions comprised areas known to be implicated in face processing, and sexual processing, including occipital areas, the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and, subcortically, the putamen and nucleus caudatus. The same regions were activated in paedophiles, but with a reversed preferential response pattern.
Institute of Sexual Medicine and Forensic Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Medical School, Kiel, Germany ponseti@sexmed.uni-kiel.de.
J
J
Ponseti
Department of Neurology, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Medical School, Kiel, Germany.
O
O
Granert
Department of Neurology, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Medical School, Kiel, Germany.
T
T
van Eimeren
Department of Radiology and Neuroradiology, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Medical School, Kiel, Germany.
O
O
Jansen
Department of Radiology and Neuroradiology, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Medical School, Kiel, Germany.
S
S
Wolff
Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Freie- and Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
K
K
Beier
Department of Neurology, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Medical School, Kiel, Germany.
G
G
Deuschl
Practice for Sexual Medicine, Kiel, Germany.
H
H
Bosinski
Department of Neurology, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Medical School, Kiel, Germany Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark.
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H
Siebner
D000367:Age Factors; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010378:Pedophilia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019529:Sexuality
face processing; magnetic resonance imaging; paedophilia; sexual brain processing