title: Gender differences in brain structure and resting-state functional connectivity related to narcissistic personality.
abstract: Although cognitive and personality studies have observed gender differences in narcissism, the neural bases of these differences remain unknown. The current study combined the voxel-based morphometry and resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) analyses to explore the sex-specific neural basis of narcissistic personality. The VBM results showed that the relationship between narcissistic personality and regional gray matter volume (rGMV) differed between sexes. Narcissistic scores had a significant positive correlation with the rGMV of the right SPL in females, but not in males. Further analyses were conducted to investigate the sex-specific relationship between rsFC and narcissism, using right SPL/frontal eye fields (FEF) as the seed regions (key nodes of the dorsal attention network, DAN). Interestingly, decreased anticorrelations between the right SPL/FEF and areas of the precuneus and middle frontal gyrus (key nodes of the the default mode network, DMN) were associated with higher narcissistic personality scores in males, whereas females showed the opposite tendency. The findings indicate that gender differences in narcissism may be associated with differences in the intrinsic and dynamic interplay between the internally-directed DMN and the externally-directed TPN. Morphometry and functional connectivity analyses can enhance our understanding of the neural basis of sex-specific narcissism.
authors.affiliation: 1] Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China [2] School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wenjing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: 1] Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China [2] School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Lingli
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cun
authors.affiliation: 1] Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China [2] School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: 1] Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China [2] School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Junyi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: 1] Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China [2] School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yanqiu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: 1] Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China [2] School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Dongtao
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: 1] Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China [2] School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Qinglin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: 1] Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China [2] School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009289:Narcissism; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*; D011859:Radiography; D012146:Rest; D012649:Self Concept; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult