Personality Is Reflected in the Brain's Intrinsic Functional Architecture

Abstract

Personality describes persistent human behavioral responses to broad classes of environmental stimuli. Investigating how personality traits are reflected in the brain's functional architecture is challenging, in part due to the difficulty of designing appropriate task probes. Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) can detect intrinsic activation patterns without relying on any specific task. Here we use RSFC to investigate the neural correlates of the five-factor personality domains. Based on seed regions placed within two cognitive and affective ‘hubs’ in the brain—the anterior cingulate and precuneus—each domain of personality predicted RSFC with a unique pattern of brain regions. These patterns corresponded with functional subdivisions responsible for cognitive and affective processing such as motivation, empathy and future-oriented thinking. Neuroticism and Extraversion, the two most widely studied of the five constructs, predicted connectivity between seed regions and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and lateral paralimbic regions, respectively. These areas are associated with emotional regulation, self-evaluation and reward, consistent with the trait qualities. Personality traits were mostly associated with functional connections that were inconsistently present across participants. This suggests that although a fundamental, core functional architecture is preserved across individuals, variable connections outside of that core encompass the inter-individual differences in personality that motivate diverse responses.

Functional neuroimaging of extraversion-introversion

“…Different from the task-or stimulus-dependent state, the resting-state provides a new insight into the neuronal mechanisms that are involved in perpetuating the constant internal milieu and in specifi c personality traits [5] . In addition,…”

“…given that spontaneous fluctuations consume >60% of the total energy of the brain [33] , and the spontaneous activity at rest may be involved in the internal processes underlying the representation of self, separate from the environment [34] , it is possible that the intrinsically-organized functional brain networks may have a direct relation with the personality [5,12] .…”

“…For example, using two cognitive and affective 'hubs' in the brain-the ACC and the PCC-as regions of interest, researchers have explored the functional connectivity between the ACC/PCC and other brain regions, as well as their relationships with extraversion [5] . They found that extraversion predicts the functional connectivity between seed regions and lateral paralimibic regions involved in reward and motivation [5] .…”

“…They found that extraversion predicts the functional connectivity between seed regions and lateral paralimibic regions involved in reward and motivation [5] . Another study showed that intrinsic amygdala-cortical functional connectivity is closely associated with extraversion [48] .…”

“…Generally, personality traits are measured by questionnaire through self-report or peerrating. Then, correlations between personality traits and n eurobiological p arameters are calculated [5] . Currently, a number of techniques are available for personality neuroscience.…”