Recent research about pedophilia suggested an association between pedophilia, neurocognitive disturbance and specific personality profiles. Especially neuropsychological functions associated with the prefrontal and motor processing loops showed to be impaired in pedophilia. But in most studies about pedophilia subjects were recruited from high security forensic hospitals. The results might therefore be influenced by selection bias. To overcome this bias we conducted a study that aimed to compare neurocognitive disturbance and specific personality profiles of pedophile sexual abusers, pedophile internet abusers and controls.

We included until now 5 male pedophile sexual abusers, 4 male pedophile internet abusers and 6 male control subjects. Subjects were matched for age and IQ. Personality profiles were assessed by SKID and MMPI. Response inhibition was tested in a classical Go/NoGo task.

Assessments of personality profiles showed similar sub threshold profiles for the controls and the group of internet abusers while subjects from security forensic hospital setting fulfilled criteria of personality disorders. Accordingly showed the Go/NoGo task higher rates of failed response inhibition in the group of paedophilic subjects from high security forensic hospital setting and lower rates for pedophile internet abusers and/or controls.

Our preliminary data suggests that results of recent studies about neurocognitive disturbance and neuroimaging correlates of paedophilia might be influenced by selection bias and might rather reflect impairment of personality and social interaction in a broader sense. Future research about paedophilia should consequently aim to disentangle personality impairment from sexual orientation.