Researchers at University of Iowa have previously shown compulsive hoarders may have a problem in their right mesial prefrontal cortex, after studying pathological collectors. They found that damage to the frontal lobes of the brain impaired judgement and caused emotional disturbances. But only when the injury extended to the right mesial prefrontal cortex, did the subjects develop a serious collecting habit. This may be helpful in trying to identify why some people hoard shoes. Other studies in humans with bilateral damage of the ventromedial (VM) prefrontal cortex show that subjects develop severe impairments in decision making. Again this may explain why people compulsively buy shoes they cannot afford.
has also linked abnormality in the right mesial prefrontal cortex with paraphilia.
The Prefrontal systems have been associated with several aspects of sexual behavior and human neuroimaging in normal individuals found activation of right prefrontal cortex during both sexual arousal and orgasm.
Neuroanatomical differences have been found in the prefrontal cortex of individuals with antisocial personality disorder. Thus it is possible that neurological deficits relate to sex offenses, possibly violent and nonviolent.
Neurological research is comparatively new,
but so interesting especially when it sheds light on behaviours and pathologies, previously unexplained.