New research using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) shows that an underactive hypothalamus may be part of the neurological basis of pedophilia, adult sexual attraction toward children.
The study, which appears in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry, involved 13 pedophilic patients and 14 control subjects. All participants viewed "emotional and erotic pictures" of adults while their neural activity was monitored via fMRI.
The images collected showed reduced activity in the hypothalamus in pedophilic subjects. The level activity was found to correlate with the clinical measure, or extent, of pedophilia.