Neurobiological correlates of sexual violence: from child sexual offending towards sexual violence against women

目前关于性暴力行为的神经生物学基础的知识非常有限，特别是关于强奸犯或针对女性的性犯罪者。之前的大部分工作都集中在恋童癖和儿童性侵犯上。正如我们在中间报告中所述，我们在这个问题上的工作表明，儿童的性侵犯行为，而不是恋童癖，是由包括遗传、神经生物学和环境因素在内的多种变化反映出来的。因此，拟议研究的主要目标是澄清(1)这些发现是针对儿童性犯罪的，还是可能代表一种独特的性暴力的神经生物学内表型；(2)这些变化是否或在多大程度上与大多数性犯罪预测的稳定动态风险因素有关。与我们之前研究恋童癖和儿童性侵犯的方法类似，我们将研究三组男性，以便区分罪犯身份和强迫性性冲动和性幻想：(1)对女性实施性侵犯的男性，(2)健康的无犯罪行为的男性，以及(3)遭受强迫性性幻想的男性，但尚未实施性侵犯。作为生物学指标，我们建议评估内分泌（雄激素、性激素结合球蛋白（SHBG）、皮质醇和催乳素）和表观遗传参数（雄激素、多巴胺和血清素神经递质系统）。通过使用相同的多模态脑成像技术（灰质和白质结构的结构成像，静息状态功能连接），我们进一步计划评估和直接比较针对女性的性犯罪者与儿童性犯罪者的基本结构和功能变化。该项目的另一个重要目标是经验证实的稳定动态风险因素与神经生物学测量/改变的关联。此外，通过应用任务特异性功能MRI，我们进一步旨在更深入地探索与最重要的危险因素之一，冲动控制或反应抑制（RI）相关的神经功能障碍。将使用与第一个资助期在儿童性犯罪者中使用的相同的经典GoNogo反应抑制范式来评估RI。我们认为罪犯的状态与特定的神经元反应模式以及控制性冲动的能力降低有关，从而导致更多的犯罪错误。

The current knowledge on neurobiological underpinnings of sexual violent behavior is very limited, especially with respect to rapists or sex offenders against women. Most of the prior work focused on pedophilia and child sexual offending. As illustrated in our intermediate report, our own work on that issue suggest that child sexual offending behavior, rather than pedophilia, is reflected by a multitude of alterations including heritable, neurobiological and environmental factors. It is therefore a main goal of the proposed research to clarify (1) whether these findings are specific for child sexual offending or may represent a unique neurobiological endophenotype of sexual violence in general and (2) whether or in how far these alterations may relate to most sex offence-predictive stable-dynamic risk factors.Similar to our previous approach on pedophilia and child sexual offending, we will examine three groups of men, which allow for a differentiation of offender status and coercive sexual urges and fantasies: (1) men who committed sexual offences against women, (2) healthy non-offending men, and (3) men suffering from coercive sexual fantasies who did not committed sex offences, yet.As biological measures, we propose assessing endocrine (androgens, sex hormone binding globuline (SHBG), cortisol and prolactin) and epigenetic parameters (androgen, dopamine and serotonin neurotransmitter systems). By using the same multimodal brain imaging techniques (structural imaging on gray and white matter structures, resting state functional connectivity), we further plan to assess and directly compare basic structural and functional brain alterations in sex offenders against women with those found in child sex offenders. A further important aim of this project is the association of empirically confirmed stable-dynamic risk factors with neurobiological measures/alterations. Moreover, by applying task-specific functional MRI, we further aim to explore the neural dysfunctions related to one of the most important risk factors more in depth, impulse-control or response inhibition (RI), respectively. RI will be assessed using the same classic GoNogo response inhibition paradigm as used during the first funding period in child sex offenders. We expect that offender status is associated with specific neuronal response pattern as well as reduced ability to control prepotent impulses resulting in a larger number of commission errors.