title: Increased functional connectivity within mesocortical networks in open people.
abstract: Openness is a personality trait reflecting absorption in sensory experience, preference for novelty, and creativity, and is thus considered a driving force of human evolution. At the brain level, a relation between openness and dopaminergic circuits has been proposed, although evidence to support this hypothesis is lacking. Recent behavioral research has also found that people with mania, a psychopathological condition linked to dopaminergic dysfunctions, may display high levels of openness. However, whether openness is related to dopaminergic circuits has not been determined thus far. We addressed this issue via three functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments in n=46 healthy volunteers. In the first experiment participants lied at rest in the scanner while in the other two experiments they performed active tasks that included the presentation of pleasant odors and pictures of food. Individual differences in openness and other personality traits were assessed via the NEO-PI-R questionnaire (NEO-Personality Inventory-Revised), a widely employed measure of the five-factor model personality traits. Correlation between fMRI and personality data was analyzed via state-of-art methods assessing resting-state and task-related functional connectivity within specific brain networks. Openness was positively associated with the functional connectivity between the right substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area, the major source of dopaminergic inputs in the brain, and the ipsilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a key region in encoding, maintaining, and updating information that is relevant for adaptive behaviors. Of note, the same connectivity pattern was consistently found across all of the three fMRI experiments. Given the critical role of dopaminergic signal in gating information in DLPFC, the increased functional connectivity within mesocortical networks in open people may explain why these individuals display a wide "mental permeability" to salient stimuli and an increased absorption in sensory experience.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioimaging and Molecular Physiology, National Research Council, Catanzaro, Italy. Electronic address: luca.passamonti@cnr.it.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Passamonti
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Terracciano
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University "Magna Graecia", Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Riccelli
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioimaging and Molecular Physiology, National Research Council, Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Donzuso
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioimaging and Molecular Physiology, National Research Council, Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cerasa
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University "Magna Graecia", Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Mg
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vaccaro
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioimaging and Molecular Physiology, National Research Council, Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Novellino
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University "Magna Graecia", Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fera
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioimaging and Molecular Physiology, National Research Council, Catanzaro, Italy; Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University "Magna Graecia", Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quattrone
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009812:Odorants; D055696:Olfactory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000502:physiology*; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Dopamine circuits; Food; Olfaction; Personality traits; Prefrontal cortex; resting-state