Functional Cortical and Subcortical Abnormalities in Pedophilia: A Combined Study Using a Choice Reaction Time Task and fMRI

The brain response of pedophiles to visual sexual stimulation by images of nude prepubescents is comparable with previously described neural patterns of sexual processing in nonpedophilic human males evoked by visual stimuli depicting nude adults. Nevertheless, group differences found in the cingulate gyrus and the insular region suggest an important role of these brain areas in pedophilic sexual interest. Furthermore, combining attention-based methods like CRTT with fMRI may be a viable option for future diagnostic procedures regarding pedophilia. Poeppl TB, Nitschke J, Dombert B, Santtila P, Greenlee MW, Osterheider M, and Mokros A. Functional cortical and subcortical abnormalities in pedophilia: A combined study using a choice reaction time task and fMRI.