Dominant hemispheric dysfunction in sexual deviations: Exhibitionism and pedophilia

One hundred seven pedophiles, whose sexual orientation was confirmed by phallometric response to sexual stimuli were investigated neuropsychologically and with quantitative EEG and compared to age and sex matched healthy controls. The pattern of neuropsychological and psychometric deficits revealed the presence of left frontotemporal dysfunction in the pedophiles, an effect that is particularly pronounced in those who show maximal erotic arousal for sexual partners aged 6-12. The EEG analysis showed increased frontal delta, theta, and alpha power and a pattern of reduced frontal interhemispheric coherence and increased left hemisphere coherence, essentially during verbal processing. Similar were the findings in 43 male exhibitionists and 46 normal controls, all right handed and matched for age, sex and education studied with quantitative EEG during resting conditions, and during two cognitive tasks, and during spatial cognitive processing. These findings suggest that sexual deviations in the male relate to altered dominant hemispheric functions with disruption of frontal interhemispheric relationships.