Personality from a controlled processing perspective: an fMRI study of neuroticism, extraversion, and self-consciousness.
Although neuroticism has been central to most theories of personality, self-reported neuroticism has had limited success in predicting expected behavioral outcomes. The reason for this may be due, in part, to the imprecision of self-reports. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between neural correlates of control systems and neuroticism, extraversion, and self-consciousness. In response to an oddball task, neuroticism was associated with increased dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) reactivity, typically associated with discrepancy detection, whereas extraversion and self-consciousness were associated with lateral and medial frontoparietal networks, respectively, typically associated with task-focused (lateral) or self-focused (medial) controlled processes. We also examined whether the neural measure of neuroticism would predict a relevant behavioral outcome better than self-reports would. Interoceptive accuracy, an outcome associated with neuroticism, was better accounted for by dACC reactivity (r2 = .74) than by self-reported neuroticism (r2 = .16), suggesting that neural reactivities may provide a more direct measure of personality than self-reports do.
Eisenberger
Naomi I
NI
Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1563, USA. neisenbe@ucla.edu
Lieberman
Matthew D
MD
Satpute
Ajay B
AB
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005120:Extraversion, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment
D010100:Oxygen