title: Personality and complex brain networks: The role of openness to experience in default network efficiency.
abstract: The brain's default network (DN) has been a topic of considerable empirical interest. In fMRI research, DN activity is associated with spontaneous and self-generated cognition, such as mind-wandering, episodic memory retrieval, future thinking, mental simulation, theory of mind reasoning, and creative cognition. Despite large literatures on developmental and disease-related influences on the DN, surprisingly little is known about the factors that impact normal variation in DN functioning. Using structural equation modeling and graph theoretical analysis of resting-state fMRI data, we provide evidence that Openness to Experience-a normally distributed personality trait reflecting a tendency to engage in imaginative, creative, and abstract cognitive processes-underlies efficiency of information processing within the DN. Across two studies, Openness predicted the global efficiency of a functional network comprised of DN nodes and corresponding edges. In Study 2, Openness remained a robust predictor-even after controlling for intelligence, age, gender, and other personality variables-explaining 18% of the variance in DN functioning. These findings point to a biological basis of Openness to Experience, and suggest that normally distributed personality traits affect the intrinsic architecture of large-scale brain systems. Hum Brain Mapp 37:773-779, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Roger E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Beaty
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Scott Barry
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Kaufman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Benedek
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
authors.forename: Rex E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
authors.forename: Yoed N
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Kenett
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Emanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jauk
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Aljoscha C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Neubauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Silvia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology*; D010556:Personality Tests; D012146:Rest; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: default mode network; individual differences; network science; personality; structural equation modeling