title: Brain response to masked and unmasked facial emotions as a function of implicit and explicit personality self-concept of extraversion.
abstract: Extraversion-introversion is a personality dimension referring to individual differences in social behavior. In the past, neurobiological research on extraversion was almost entirely based upon questionnaires which inform about the explicit self-concept. Today, indirect measures are available that tap into the implicit self-concept of extraversion which is assumed to result from automatic processing functions. In our study, brain activation while viewing facial expression of affiliation relevant (i.e., happiness, and disgust) and irrelevant (i.e., fear) emotions was examined as a function of the implicit and explicit self-concept of extraversion and processing mode (automatic vs. controlled). 40 healthy volunteers watched blocks of masked and unmasked emotional faces while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. The Implicit Association Test and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory were applied as implicit and explicit measures of extraversion which were uncorrelated in our sample. Implicit extraversion was found to be positively associated with neural response to masked happy faces in the thalamus and temporo-parietal regions and to masked disgust faces in cerebellar areas. Moreover, it was positively correlated with brain response to unmasked disgust faces in the amygdala and cortical areas. Explicit extraversion was not related to brain response to facial emotions when controlling trait anxiety. The implicit compared to the explicit self-concept of extraversion seems to be more strongly associated with brain activation not only during automatic but also during controlled processing of affiliation relevant facial emotions. Enhanced neural response to facial disgust could reflect high sensitivity to signals of interpersonal rejection in extraverts (i.e., individuals with affiliative tendencies).
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstr, 10, Leipzig 04103, Germany. Electronic address: suslow@medizin.uni-leipzig.de.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suslow
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, Gebäude A1, Münster 48149 , Germany.
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kugel
authors.affiliation: Department of Multimodal and Interdisciplinary Pain Therapy, HELIOS Klinik Attendorn, Hohler Weg 9, 57439 Attendorn, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lindner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, Gebäude A9, Münster 48149, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Str. 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Udo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dannlowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Binger Str. 14-16, Mainz 55122, Germany.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Egloff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005120:Extraversion, Psychological; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010556:Personality Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D012649:Self Concept
keywords: Implicit Association Test; automatic processing; emotional facial expression; extraversion; functional magnetic resonance imaging; visual perception