Five-Factor Model personality traits and executive functioning among older adults

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Abstract

Recent theoretical interest in the neuropsychological underpinnings of major personality factors, along with the identification of both personality and executive functioning (EF) as significant predictors of dementia onset, suggest the need to examine personality-EF associations. The current study assessed Five-Factor Model personality traits (NEO Personality Inventory-Revised) and EF in 58 healthy, community-dwelling, older adults (Mage = 69.8, SD = 6.3) using well-validated neuropsychological tests. Results indicated that EF was positively associated with Neuroticism, and negatively associated with Openness to Experience and Agreeableness. Personality facets associated with interpersonal antagonism vs. affiliation (e.g., Angry-Hostility, Warmth, Trust, Tender-Mindedness) were most strongly associated with EF. These findings contribute to a growing literature on the neuropsychological foundations of personality.

Introduction

Successful aging is a multidimensional construct that includes physical health, cognitive functioning, functional status, emotional adjustment, and social engagement (Ko et al., 2007, Ouwehand et al., 2006, Rowe and Kahn, 1997a, Rowe and Kahn, 1997b). There is, however, considerable variability among individuals in aging trajectories and profiles. Although prior research on these individual differences in aging has considered personality factors (e.g., Smith & Spiro, 2002), recent research elucidating the neurocognitive underpinnings of personality traits may further inform the nature of personality-aging associations. Of particular interest are associations between personality factors and the constellation of cognitive processes collectively known as “executive” (i.e., executive functioning or executive function).

Executive functioning constitutes a multi-faceted construct comprising a number of basic neurocognitive processes including working memory, cognitive flexibility, response selection, inhibition, initiation, set formation, and set maintenance (Suchy, 2009). Together, these processes facilitate behaviors and choices that are adaptive, goal-directed, effortful, and controlled. Executive functions rely on a number of brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate gyrus, the basal ganglia and diencephalic structures, the cerebellum, deep white matter tracks, and some aspects of the parietal lobes—brain regions that are richly connected with one another. Together, executive processes allow us to generate goals and plans, modify our behavior in response to changes in the environment, and follow through with executing necessary actions in order to successfully achieve the intended goals. Not surprisingly, then, individual differences in executive functioning are hypothesized to figure prominently in successful aging. Indeed, executive functions are central to the maintenance and change of health behavior, stress regulation, developmental trajectories of aging and mortality, as well as management of chronic illness (Williams & Thayer, 2009). Moreover, Storandt (2008) has suggested that personality and executive functioning may be the two most sensitive indicators of early dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT). Thus, understanding the associations between personality traits and executive functioning in older adults represents an important topic of research.

In addition to the implications for aging research, understanding the neuropsychological aspects of personality informs both theory and application. In particular, cognitive processes, such as executive functioning, are considered to be endophenotypes—individual difference variables “closer to” the biological mechanisms by which genetic polymorphisms (i.e., the genotype) may be associated with the complex behaviors that characterize personality (i.e., the phenotype) (Canli, 2008). From this perspective, the genotype, endophenotype (in this case, EF) and phenotype (in this case, personality) can be considered different “levels” of individual differences which, in interaction with the environment, are reciprocally associated over time. These reciprocal associations can be illustrated in models of individual differences in stress risk and resilience (Williams, Suchy, & Rau, 2009). For example, individual differences in EF may be manifested in personality characteristics that render an individual more or less prone to stressful circumstances (e.g., impulsivity, risk-taking behavior, time management difficulties, poor planning, and poor self-regulation in interpersonal contexts). Physiological responses to stress (e.g., release of stress hormones, such as cortisol), as well as maladaptive behavioral responses to stress (e.g., substance use), in turn, have deleterious effects on EF. As EF declines, changes in personality may occur. Because longitudinal research examining these associations is still lacking, strong statements about causal direction between EF and personality cannot currently be made. Nevertheless, demonstrating associations between personality and executive functioning contributes to a growing body of research utilizing a neurocognitive framework of personality.

Although the body of research is still scant, prior findings suggest that there are significant associations between Five-Factor Model (FFM; McCrae & Costa, 2003) personality traits and executive functioning (see Williams et al., 2009, for overview). For example, higher Neuroticism has been associated with poorer performance on response selection (i.e., conflict detection/resolution, error monitoring) tasks, such as the Stroop (e.g., Luu, Collins, & Tucker, 2000). Moreover, inverse associations between Neuroticism and decision-making (which relies in part on executive functioning) have been demonstrated, among older but not younger adults (Denburg et al., 2009)—a finding that may reflect the long-term consequences of higher stress exposure among high-neurotic individuals. Neuroticism is also associated with the development of mild cognitive impairment (Wilson, Schneider, Arnold, Bienias, & Bennett, 2007).

Evidence for associations between Extraversion and executive functioning is mixed. Sensitivity to reward cues (i.e., Behavioral Activation System; BAS; (Gray, 1970) has been proposed to represent the underlying substrate of Extraversion. On the one hand, some researchers have suggested that higher self-reported BAS is associated with greater “neural efficiency” during working memory tasks, as evidenced by reduced activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and lateral PFC during performance (Gray et al., 2005). Further, under emotionally neutral conditions with high cognitive load, adult extraverts appear to have better working memory performance than introverts (Lieberman & Rosenthal, 2001). On the other hand, in studies of children, high BAS is associated with poorer executive functioning (Blair, Peters, & Granger, 2004). Further, positive emotionality in the context of reward cues (i.e., “approach”) is negatively associated with behavioral effortful control in children (Kochanska, Aksan, Penney, & Doobay, 2007), suggesting a negative association with executive functioning.

Openness to Experience has been positively associated with performance on cognitive tasks purported to measure executive functioning (DeYoung, Peterson, & Higgins, 2005). In a study examining personality associations with dementia, Openness was the FFM trait most strongly associated with performance on neuropsychological tests (Duchek, Balota, Storandt, & Larsen, 2007), though associations with executive functioning per se were not examined. Openness is also reliably associated with performance on IQ tests (McCrae, 1993, Moutafi et al., 2003), as is executive functioning (Ardila, Pineda, & Rosselli, 2000); thus, it is possible that relations between Openness and measured intelligence may reflect executive functioning. In addition, Openness has been demonstrated to decline with age (Donnellan & Lucas, 2008), potentially implicating relations to executive functioning, which also shows reliable decline even among healthy aging individuals (Kramer et al., 2007).

There is also preliminary evidence that Agreeableness, though less studied in this regard than other FFM traits, is associated with aspects of executive functioning, particularly as manifested in inhibiting inappropriate interpersonal behavior. Studies of children indicate that high affiliation (positive emotionality in mother–child interactions), the putative temperament precursor to Agreeableness, is associated with better performance on tasks requiring effortful behavioral control (Kochanska et al., 2007), the presumed output of executive functions. Further, studies of older individuals indicate that social inappropriateness is mediated by executive functioning deficits (von Hippel, 2007).

Finally, Conscientiousness by definition appears to reflect executive functioning abilities. Specifically, individual differences in organization and orderliness, persistence, dutifulness, self-discipline, deliberateness/impulse control, and perceived competence are all aspects of Conscientiousness. Interestingly, however, studies examining these associations have yielded inconsistent findings. On the one hand, low Conscientiousness is a well-established personality correlate of attention deficit disorder (Martel et al., 2008, Nigg et al., 2002) which is considered to be a disorder of executive functioning (Seidman, 2006). Further, impulse control, thought to be a primary characteristic of Conscientiousness (Roberts, Walton, & Bogg, 2005), has been associated with performance on experimental cognitive tasks that tap inhibition aspects of executive functioning (Keilp et al., 2005, Logan et al., 1997, Pietrzak et al., 2008). On the other hand, there have also been studies of impulsivity reporting null findings (e.g., Cheung et al., 2004, Reynolds et al., 2006). Recent research suggests, however, that impulsivity may be best characterized as a multidimensional construct involving thrill seeking, nonplanning impulsivity, and disinhibited behavior (Flory et al., 2006). Within that multidimensional framework, Conscientiousness is most strongly (negatively) associated with nonplanning impulsivity (which also has a modest positive association with Neuroticism). The thrill seeking and disinhibited behavior aspects of impulsivity are more strongly associated with Extraversion and Agreeableness, respectively.

Although not focused on associations with executive functioning per se, a recent study examined FFM trait differences between healthy older adults and older adults with varying degrees of DAT (Duchek et al., 2007). Duchek and colleagues found that self-reported and informant-rated Neuroticism and Openness, as well as informant-rated Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, differentiated healthy control participants from the very mild DAT group. The overall pattern was one of higher Neuroticism, lower Extraversion, lower Openness, lower Agreeableness, and lower Conscientiousness in the very mild DAT group compared to healthy older adults. Because declines in executive functioning have been implicated in dementia, these findings suggest that this profile might characterize poorer vs. better executive functioning in healthy older adults, the primary hypothesis of the current study. However, because the current study utilized self-reported personality, findings by Duchek and colleagues mostly strongly suggest EF associations with Neuroticism and Openness.

In summary, executive functioning is frequently invoked in theoretical accounts of personality. Additionally, both personality and executive functioning appear to be sensitive indicators of cognitive and functional declines in old age. Thus, the association between personality and executive functioning represents an important topic of research, particularly among older adults. However, much past research in this area has relied on evidence that is indirect or only inferred, such as associations of certain personality traits with (a) disorders that are marked by executive dysfunction, such as attention deficit disorder, age-associated cognitive decline, and dementia, (b) general intelligence and overall cognitive status, as opposed to specific measures of executive function, or (c) performance on cognitive tasks that only indirectly implicate executive functioning. In addition, studies that have directly examined the association between personality and executive functioning have been limited by relying on a single task or a single aspect of executive functioning, such as working memory or response selection, thereby failing to fully capture this multi-faceted construct. Lastly, much of the prior research has been limited by the study of single personality traits in isolation.

The current study aimed to extend prior research by considering the full range of personality within the FFM and by utilizing a comprehensive, well-validated, psychometrically sound, individually-administered battery of neuropsychological tests that together assess the full domain of executive functioning. Thus, the present study seeks to provide a more definitive test of the associations between executive functioning and personality traits. Because past research suggests that the association between personality and executive functioning may become more apparent with age (e.g., Denburg et al., 2009), and because of the potential utility of understanding such an association in prediction of age-related cognitive and functional declines (Storandt, 2008), we examined personality and executive functioning in a sample of healthy older adults.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were 58 right-handed healthy, independent, community-dwelling elderly (62% female), ages 60–85 years (M = 69.9, SD = 6.3), with 10–22 (M = 14.6, SD = 2.7) years of formal education. Participants were recruited from the community via advertisements and were paid $10.00 an hour for participation. Participants underwent standard University of Utah IRB-approved informed consent procedures, followed by individual administration of cognitive and personality tests in a quiet testing room. All

Descriptive analyses

Standardized scaled scores and T-scores were used in descriptive analyses so as to allow determination of normative characteristics of the sample. The mean scaled scores (based on age and education corrected norms; Delis et al., 2001) for the four measures of executive functioning (EF) used in this study ranged from 6 to 16 (M = 10.46, SD = 2.21), reflecting a range between Borderline and Superior performance, demonstrating that none of the participants exhibited frankly impaired EF. Descriptive

Discussion

Recent personality research has focused on establishing the neuropsychological foundation of personality traits, often finding associations between individual traits and particular aspects of executive functioning. The current study examined the extent to which EF in healthy older adults, determined using well-validated neuropsychological tests, was associated with FFM personality traits.

Executive functioning was reliably associated with Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, and Agreeableness.

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