Alterations in brain spatiotemporal autocorrelation and functional connectivity in lifelong premature ejaculation: A resting-state fMRI study

Spatial and temporal autocorrelation, as low-dimensional statistical properties, account for a substantial portion of variance in complex functional brain network topology, thereby providing a method for understanding the architecture of brain functional organization in specific populations. In this study, we investigated lifelong premature ejaculation (LPE) by analyzing spatiotemporal autocorrelation and observed increased temporal autocorrelation in the right thalamus, left prefrontal cortex, and left somatomotor cortex, which may reflect abnormal neural signal persistence. Seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analysis further indicated increased FC in the right inferior parietal lobule, left anterior cingulate cortex, and right precuneus, alongside decreased FC in the right superior occipital gyrus. These FC alterations showed significant correlations with spatial autocorrelation metrics. FC in the right precuneus was positively associated with ejaculatory latency and patient-reported control, and negatively correlated with clinical scores. These disrupted spatiotemporal dynamics within prefrontal-somatosensory and occipital-limbic networks suggest that autocorrelation patterns may represent a promising neural correlate of LPE, offering new insights into its underlying neural mechanisms.