Abnormal white matter integrity in rapists as indicated by diffusion tensor imaging

BMC Neuroscience

Research Article

Kun-Hsien Chou¹  Ching-Po Lin²  Chiao-Yun Chen³  Adrian Raine⁴  Daisy Hung⁵  I-Yun Chen⁶ 

[1] Brain Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, 112, Taipei, Taiwan;Brain Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, 112, Taipei, Taiwan;Institute of Neuroscience, National Yang-Ming University, 112, Taipei, Taiwan;Department and Graduate Institute of Criminology, National Chung Cheng University, 621, Chiayi, Taiwan;Department of Criminology, Psychiatry, and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA;Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Jhongli, Taiwan;Institute of Neuroscience, National Yang-Ming University, 112, Taipei, Taiwan;

关键词: Rapist;    Reward;    Moral judgment;    Diffusion tensor imaging;    White matter;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12868-016-0278-3

 received in 2015-11-23, accepted in 2016-06-20,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundRecent research has documented structural brain abnormalities in various criminal offenders. However, there have been few brain imaging studies of sex offenders, and none on white matter integrity. The current study tested the hypothesis that rapists, when compared to matched controls, would show abnormal cortical and subcortical white matter integrity.ResultsRapists showed significantly increased fractional anisotropy in the internal capsule in the thalamus, caudate, and globus pallidus, and also in white matter tracts near the angular gyrus, posterior cingulate, frontal pole, lateral occipital cortex, and genu compared to controls matched for age, gender, and educational status. Reduced fractional anisotropy was observed in rapists in the posterior cingulum and in the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first study indicating white matter abnormalities in rapists. Findings indicate abnormalities in white matter connectivity in brain regions involved in reward/motivation and moral judgment, which may predispose rapists to be both over-responsive to sexual reward stimuli and also to make inappropriate moral decisions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2016