Suchy Yana, Whittaker J Wilson, Strassberg Donald S, Eastvold Angela
Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 84112, USA.
J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2009 Mar;15(2):248-57. doi: 10.1017/S1355617709090353. Epub 2009 Feb 10.
Although some evidence exists that child molesters may be characterized by structural and functional brain abnormalities, findings across studies are inconsistent. Past cognitive research in this area has been extensively criticized for relying on conceptually weak batteries, measures of questionable reliability, and poorly defined samples (i.e., failing to distinguish between pedophilic and nonpedophilic child molesters). The present study aimed to address the weaknesses of past research by comparing 40 child molesters (20 pedophilic and 20 nonpedophilic) and 20 demographically matched nonoffender controls on six well-defined neurocognitive composite scores of comparable reliability (i.e., semantic knowledge, executive functioning, processing speed, motor speed, auditory memory, and visual memory). Results indicated that pedophilic child molesters exhibit slower processing speed, nonpedophilic child molesters exhibit poorer semantic knowledge, and both molester groups exhibit executive weaknesses as compared to nonoffender controls. This study is the first to compare the two molester types on neurocognitive functions. The observed differences between the molester groups help explain inconsistencies in past research and demonstrate the need to distinguish between the two types of child molesters when studying neurobiologic underpinnings of sexual offending.
尽管有证据表明儿童性侵犯者可能具有大脑结构和功能异常的特征，但各研究结果并不一致。过去该领域的认知研究因依赖概念薄弱的测试组合、可靠性存疑的测量方法以及定义不明确的样本（即未能区分恋童癖和非恋童癖儿童性侵犯者）而受到广泛批评。本研究旨在通过比较40名儿童性侵犯者（20名恋童癖者和20名非恋童癖者）以及20名在人口统计学上匹配的非犯罪对照者在六个定义明确且可靠性相当的神经认知综合得分（即语义知识、执行功能、处理速度、运动速度、听觉记忆和视觉记忆）上的表现，来解决以往研究的不足。结果表明，与非犯罪对照者相比，恋童癖儿童性侵犯者的处理速度较慢，非恋童癖儿童性侵犯者的语义知识较差，且两类性侵犯者群体均表现出执行功能方面的弱点。本研究首次对两种类型的性侵犯者在神经认知功能上进行了比较。性侵犯者群体之间观察到的差异有助于解释以往研究中的不一致之处，并表明在研究性犯罪的神经生物学基础时，需要区分这两种类型的儿童性侵犯者。
