title: Persistence and brain circuitry.
abstract: The orbitofrontal and adjacent medial prefrontal cortex may play an important role in normal social functioning and affect modulation. Recent anatomical studies of this area of the prefrontal cortex have demonstrated a striking correspondence of fine-grained architectonic partitioning schemes in humans and nonhuman primates. This finding allows neurophysiological recording and anatomical connectivity data in animals to be considered together with functional imaging data and lesion studies in humans. In a functional MRI study, we show that individual differences in Persistence, a dimensional trait assessed with a seven-factor personality model, may be linked to specific areas in the lateral orbital and medial prefrontal cortex and the ventral striatum. These areas are part of an anatomical circuit that has been defined in nonhuman primates and has been implicated in functions related to behavioral persistence. These findings represent a fresh approach to linking normal individual differences in personality and behavior to specific neuronal structures and subsystems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. gusnard@npg.wustl.edu
authors.forename: Debra A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Gusnard
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ollinger
authors.forename: Gordon L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Shulman
authors.forename: C Robert
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Cloninger
authors.forename: Joseph L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Price
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Van Essen
authors.forename: Marcus E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Raichle
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D000882:Haplorhini / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D013045:Species Specificity