The Neuropsychology and Neurology of Sexual Deviance: A Review and Pilot Study

Abstract

Current neurological hypotheses of paraphilia posit that sexual deviance is associated with frontal and/or temporal lobe damage. This broad conception is based on few investigations, however, and the first goal of this study was to review the existing data derived from neuropsychiatry, neuroimaging and neuropsychology. It is concluded that although fronto-temporal dysfunctions are sporadically reported among sexual offenders, the evidence is scarce and it might not be specific to this type of offending. The second objective of this investigation was to gather preliminary neuropsychological data with more homogeneous subgroups of sexual offenders. A profile of lower-order executive dysfunctions (e.g. sustained attention and inhibition) and verbal deficits with intact or good capacities for higher-order executive functioning (e.g. reasoning and cognitive flexibility) and visuo-spatial processing was preferentially found among sexual offenders, suggesting basal fronto-temporal anomalies. Importantly, pedophiles were more consistently and severely impaired than rapists of adults. However, this basal fronto-temporal profile is not characteristic of sexual deviance, as it is also found in association with delinquency and criminality in general. Future neuropsychological and brain imaging studies should consider subgroups of sexual offenders and recruit non-sexual violent persons and non-violent individuals in order to disentangle the complex relations between brain anomalies and sexual deviance.

Rethinking responsibility in offenders with acquired paedophilia: Punishment or treatment?

“…These numbers show that the prevalence of acquired paedophilia cases represents a small but significant proportion of individuals among the number of sex offenders in general. No studies claim that acquired paedophilia can be predicted solely on the basis of a specific pathognomonic or an exclusive neurobiological cause (Joyal, Black, & Dassylva, 2007). Nevertheless neuropathological patterns seem to suggest a noteworthy neurobiological contribution to these acquired deviant behaviours.…”

Neurocognitive differences between pedophilic and nonpedophilic child molesters

“…Alternatively, it has been argued that because the temporal lobe abnormalities among child molesters are thought to affect primarily the left-hemisphere functions, as is refl ected in poorer language skills Joyal et al, 2007 ;Langevin et al, 1989 ), it is possible that child molesters' attraction to children is partly mediated by their in ability to relate normally to adults (Marshall et al, 2000 ).…”

Executive Function Profiles of Pedophilic and Nonpedophilic Child Molesters

“…These latter studies Correspondence and reprint requests to: Angela Eastvold, PhD, James Haley Veteran's Administration, Mental Health & Behavioral Sciences, 116B, 13000 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Tampa, FL 33612. E-mail: aeastvold@ gmail.com identified weaknesses in frontal and temporal lobes functions, including verbal abilities (Langevin, Wortzman, Wright, & Handy, 1989), verbal and visual-spatial memory (Cantor et al, 2004), verbal learning and verbal fluency (Joyal, Black, & Dassylva, 2007), ability to recognize facial affect (Suchy, Whittaker, Strassberg, & Eastvold, 2009a), attention (Kafka & Hennen, 2002), and executive functioning (Kelly, Richardson, Hunter, & Knapp, 2002;Martin, 1999;Stone & Thompson, 2001;Suchy et al, 2009b;Veneziano, Veneziano, LeGrand, & Richards, 2004).…”