Neurophysiological correlates of pedophilia: a study of EEG evoked oscillations

Close metadata

OBJECTIVE

To study the changes of evoked EEG oscillations in response to erotic visual stimuli to identify specific patterns in subjects with different variants of pedophilia.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Forty-eight right-handed male offenders who have committed sexual acts against children participated in the study. Seventeen subjects without paraphilic disorders were included in group 1, 17 subjects with heterosexual pedophilia were included in group 2, and 13 subjects with homosexual pedophilia were included in group 3. The stimuli were colored pictures of neutral, heterosexual normative, hetero- and homosexual pedophilic content shortly demonstrated with backward masking. Spectral power of delta, theta, alpha, and beta evoked oscillations (EO) was analyzed. Further, the number of significant changes of EO power in response to erotic stimuli relative to neutral ones was calculated, and topography changes of EO power in response to specific erotic pictures compared to neutral ones were analyzed for each group.

RESULTS

The diminished number of significant reactions to specific stimuli was found in the pedophilia groups (18 and 4 in groups 2 and 3, respectively) in comparison with the group without paraphilia (25). The specific changes of EO power in response to specific erotic visual pictures were found for each group. Increased power of delta, theta and alpha EO in the 104—164 ms time window, and decreased power of alpha EO in the 344-920 ms time window were found in group 1. In group 2, specific stimulation elicited decline of delta and theta EO power, possibly related to impaired motivational and emotional aspects of erotic stimuli perception. The weak changes were found in group 3 — increased power of beta EO in the frontal area.

CONCLUSION

The obtained frequency and spatial patterns of EO changes in response to erotic visual pictures are related to specificity of hetero- and homosexual pedophilia.

Keywords:

evoked oscillations EEG

pedophilia

heterosexual pedophilia

homosexual pedophilia

Authors:

Bochkarev V.K.

Serbsky National Medical Research Centre for Psychiatry and Narcology

Vasiliev N.G.

Serbsky National Medical Research Centre for Psychiatry and Narcology

Kirenskaya A.V.

Serbsky National Medical Research Centre for Psychiatry and Narcology

Tkachenko A.A.

Serbsky National Medical Research Centre for Psychiatry and Narcology;
Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University

Received:

10.11.2020

Accepted:

08.02.2021

List of references:

World Health Organization. The ICD-10. Classifications of Mental and Behavioral Disorders: Diagnostic Criteria for Research. Geneva. 1993;137.
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed. Arlington, VA, 2013;697-700.
McGrath R, Cumming G, Burchard B, et al. Current practices and emerging trends in sexual abuser management. The Safer Society 2009 North American Survey. Brandon, VT: Safer Society Press. 2010;140.
Dwyer RG, Letourneau EJ. Juveniles who sexually offend: recommending a treatment program and level of care. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2011;30:3:413-429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2011.03.007
Tkachenko AA, Vvedenskii GE, Dvoryanchikov NV. Sudebnaya seksologiya. 2nd ed. M. 2015. (In Russ.).
Schmidt AF, Babchishin KM, Lehmann RJB. A meta-analysis of viewing time measures of sexual interest in children. Arch Sex Behav. 2017;46:1:287-300. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-016-0806-3
Murphy L, Ranger R, Fedoroff JP, et al. Standardization of penile plethysmography testing in assessment of problematic sexual interest. J Sex Med. 2015;12:9:1853-1861. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsm.12979
Grubin D. The polygraph and forensic psychiatry. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2010;38:4:446-451. PMID: 21156902.
Tenbergen G, Wittfoth M, Frieling H, Ponseti J, Walter M, Walter H, Beier KM, Schiffer B, Kruger TH. The Neurobiology and Psychology of Pedophilia: Recent Advances and Challenges. Front Hum Neurosci. 2015;9:344. eCollection 2015. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00344
Jordan K, Wild TSN, Fromberger P, Müller I, Müller JL. Are There Any Biomarkers for Pedophilia and Sexual Child Abuse? A Review. Front Psychiatry. 2020;10:940. eCollection 2019. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00940
Chapman RM, Bragdon HR. Evoked responses to numerical and non-numerical visual stimuli while problem solving. Nature. 1964;203:1155-1157. https://doi.org/10.1038/2031155a0
Sutton S, Braren M, Zubin J, John ER. Evoked-Potential Correlates of Stimulus Uncertainty. Science. 1965;150:3700:1187-1188. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.150.3700.1187
Sutton S, Tueting P, Zubin J, John ER. Information delivery and the sensory evoked potential. Science. 1967;155:3768:1436-1439. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.155.3768.1436
Hillyard SA, Hink RF, Schwent VL, Picton TW. Electrical signs of selective attention in the human brain. Science. 1973;182:4108:177-180. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.182.4108.177
Rugg MD, Milner AD, Lines CR, Phalp R. Modulations of visual event-related potentials by spatial and non-spatial visual selective attention. Neuropsychologia. 1987;25:1A:85-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/0028-3932(87)90045-5
Luck SJ, Woodman GE, Vogel EK. Event-related potential studies of attention. Trends Cogn Sci. 2000;4:11:432-440. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1364-6613(00)01545-x
Basar E, Schurmann M, Basar EC, Karakas S. Alpha oscillations in brain functioning: an integrative theory. Int J Psychophysiol. 1997;26:5-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8760(97)00753-8
Ramos-Loyo J, Gonzalez-Garrido AA, Sanchez-Loyo LM, et al. Event-related potentials and event-related oscillations during identity and facial emotional processing in schizophrenia. Int J Psychophysiol. 2009;71:1:84-90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.07.008
Basar E, Guntekin B. Review of delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma response oscillations in neuropsychiatric disorders. Application of Brain Oscillations in Neuropsychiatric Diseases. Supplements to Clinical Neurophysiology. 2013;62:303-341. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-7020-5307-8.00019-3
Bochkarev VK, Kirenskaij AV, Solnceva SV, Tkachenko AA. Specificity of spatial organization of evoked EEG rhythms in patients with paranoid schizophrenia. Zhurnal Nevrologii i Psikhiatrii im. S.S. Korsakova. 2017;117:1:29-35. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17116/jnevro20171171129-35
Bochkarev VK, Solnceva SV, Kirenskaya AV, Tkachenko AA. A comparative study of the P300 wave and evoked theta-rhythm in schizophrenia and personality disorders. S.S. Korsakov Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry = Zhurnal Nevrologii i Psikhiatrii im. S.S. Korsakova. 2020;120(3):41-47. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17116/jnevro202012003141
Sauseng P, Klimesch W. What does phase information of oscillatory brain activity tell us about cognitive processes? Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2008;32(5):1001-1013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2008.03.014
Tkatchenko AA, Vvedenskii GE, Kamenskov MYu. Primenenie podporogovoi vizual’noi stimulyatsii pri psikhofiziologicheskoi diagnostike rasstroistv seksual’nykh predpochtenii. Posobie dlya vrachei. M. 2008;24. (In Russ.).
Demiralp T, Ademoglu A. Decomposition of event-related brain potentials into multiple functional components using wavelet transform. Clin Electroencephalogr. 2001;32(3):122-138. https://doi.org/10.1177/155005940103200307
Porjesz B, Rangaswamy M, Kamarajan C, Jones KA, Padmanabhapillai A, Begleiter. The utility of neurophysiological markers in the study of alcoholism. Clin Neurophysiol. 2005;116(5):993-1018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2004.12.016
Kolev V, Demiralp T, Yordanova J, Ademoglu A, Isoglu-Alkaç U. Time-frequency analysis reveals multiple functional components during oddball P300. Neuroreport. 1997;8(8):2061-2065. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001756-199705260-00050
Knyazev GG. Motivation, emotion, and their inhibitory control mirrored in brain oscillations. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2007;31(3):377-395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2006.10.004
Tucker DM, Dawson SL. Asymmetric EEG changes as method actors generated emotions. Biol Psychol. 1984;19(1):63-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/0301-0511(84)90011-5
Cohen LJ, Nikiforov K, Gans S, et al. Heterosexual Male Perpetrators of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Preliminary Neuropsychiatric Model. Psychiatr Q. 2002;73:313-336. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020416101092
Schutter DJ, van Honk J. Decoupling of midfrontal delta-beta oscillations after testosterone administration. Int J Psychophysiol. 2004;53(1):71-73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2003.12.012
Aftanas LI, Varlamov AA, Pavlov SV, Makhnev VP, Reva NV, Aftanas LI, et al. Affective picture processing: event-related synchronization within individually defined human theta band is modulated by valence dimension. Neurosci Lett. 2001;303(2):115-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0304-3940(01)01703-7
Aftanas LI, Reva NV, Varlamov AA, Pavlov SV, Makhnev VP, Aftanas LI, et al. Analysis of evoked EEG synchronization and desynchronization in conditions of emotional activation in humans: temporal and topographic characteristics. Neurosci Behav Physiol. 2004;34(8):859-867. https://doi.org/10.1023/b:neab.0000038139.39812.eb
Sauseng P, Klimesch W, Doppelmayr M, Pecherstorfer T, Freunberger R, Hanslmayr S. EEG alpha synchronization and functional coupling during top-down processing in a working memory task. Human Brain Mapping. 2005;26:148-155. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.20150
Redouté J, Stoléru S, Gré goire MC, et al. Brain processing of visual sexual stimuli in human males. Hum Brain Mapp. 2000;11:3:162-177. https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-0193(200011)11:3<162::aid-hbm30>3.0.co;2-a "> 3.0.co;2-a" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-0193(200011)11:3<162::aid-hbm30>3.0.co;2-a
Kelly SP, Lalor EC, Reilly RB, Foxe JJ. Increases in alpha oscillatory power reflect an active retinotopic mechanism for distracter suppression during sustained visuospatial attention. J Neurophysiol. 2006;95(6):3844-3851. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.01234.2005
Guntekin B, Tulay E. Event related beta and gamma oscillatory responses during perception of affective pictures. Brain Research. 2014;1577:45-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2014.06.029
Wiebking C, Northoff G. Neuroimaging in Pedophilia. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2013;15:351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-013-0351-x
Cohen LJ, Nikiforov K, Gans S, et al. Heterosexual Male Perpetrators of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Preliminary Neuropsychiatric Model. Psychiatr Q. 2002;73:313-336. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020416101092
Cantor JM, Lafaille SJ, Hannah J, Kucyi A, Soh DW, Girard TA, Mikulis DJ. Independent Component Analysis of Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Pedophiles. The Journal of Sexual Medicine. 2016;13:10:1546-1554. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.08.004
Walter M, Witzel J, Wiebking C, et al. Pedophilia is linked to reduced activation in hypothalamus and lateral prefrontal cortex during visual erotic stimulation. Biol Psychiatry. 2007;62:6:698-701. Epub 2007 Apr 2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.10.018
Fonteille V, Cazala F, Moulier V, Stolé ru S. Pedophilia: contribution of neurology and neuroimaging techniques. Encephale. 2012;38:6:496-503. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.encep.2012.01.003

Close metadata