title: Cortical thickness correlates with impulsiveness in healthy adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Impulsiveness is a central domain of human personality and of relevance for the development of substance use and certain psychiatric disorders. This study investigates whether there are overlapping as well as distinct structural cerebral correlates of attentional, motor and nonplanning impulsiveness in healthy adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  High-resolution magnetic resonance scans were acquired in 32 healthy adults to model the gray-white and gray-cerebrospinal fluid borders for each individual cortex and to compute the distance of these surfaces as a measure of cortical thickness (CT). Associations between CT and the dimensions of impulsiveness (Barratt-Impulsiveness-Scale 11, BIS) were identified in entire cortex analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed a significant negative correlation between left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) CT and the attention BIS score (FDR p<.05), motor, nonplanning and total BIS score (each p<0.001 uncorrected). In addition, CT of the orbitofrontal (OFC) and superior frontal gyrus (SFG) were inversely correlated (p<0.001 uncorrected) with BIS total and motor score. Among other negative associations only one positive correlation (right inferior temporal with nonplanning score, p<0.001 uncorrected) was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The MFG is crucial for top-down control, executive and attentional processes. The MFG together with the OFC and SFG appears to be part of brain structures, which have previously been shown to mediate behavioral inhibition, well-planned action and attention, which are core facets of impulsiveness as measured with the Barratt-Impulsiveness-Scale.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité University Medicine Campus Mitte, St. Hedwig Krankenhaus, Große Hamburger Str. 5-11, 10115 Berlin, Germany. christina.schilling@charite.de
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schilling
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kühn
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Romanowski
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schubert
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kathmann
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gallinat
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male