Neural correlates of personality: An integrative review

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2012.10.012

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

Volume 37, Issue 1, January 2013, Pages 73-95

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2012.10.012 Get rights and content

Abstract

This review examines the neural correlates of Gray's model (Gray and McNaughton, 2000, McNaughton and Corr, 2004), supplemented by a fourth dimension: constraint (Carver, 2005). The purpose of this review is to summarize findings from fMRI studies that tap on neural correlates of personality aspects in healthy subjects, in order to provide insight into the neural activity underlying human temperament. BAS-related personality traits were consistently reported to correlate positively to activity of the ventral and dorsal striatum and ventral PFC in response to positive stimuli. FFFS and BIS-related personality traits are positively correlated to activity in the amygdala in response to negative stimuli. There is limited evidence that constraint is associated with PFC and ACC activity. In conclusion, functional MRI research sheds some light on the specific neural networks underlying personality. It is clear that more sophisticated task paradigms are required, as well as personality questionnaires that effectively differentiate between BAS, FFFS, BIS, and constraint. Further research is proposed to potentially reveal new insight in the neural subsystems governing basic human behavior.

Highlights

► Studies are reviewed that associate personality to fMRI in healthy subjects. ► BAS-related personality traits are related to activity in the striatum and ventral PFC. ► FFFS and BIS-related personality traits are related to activity in the amygdala. ► More sophisticated research designs are needed to disentangle BIS and constraint.

Introduction

Human beings have always had an innate drive to describe and explain human behavior. In the last decades, the instrumental role of neurobiology in explaining human behavior and personality has been explored. Personality can be described as: ‘The dynamic organization, within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment’ (Allport, 1937). Animal and human lesion studies demonstrate the importance of brain structure (and function) in patterns of behavior and emotion (Adolphs et al., 1994, Cardinal et al., 2002, Davidson and Irwin, 1999, Burgdorf and Panksepp, 2006). The development of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) has made it possible to relate behavioral measures to the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) signal, which is indicative of cortical activity (Logothetis et al., 2001, Logothetis and Wandell, 2004). Using this method, emotional states are found to be associated with activation of specific brain regions (Phan et al., 2002). Since the beginning of this century several studies have emerged that correlate personality traits to the BOLD signal in response to emotional stimuli (Canli et al., 2001). Although studies investigating the relation between fMRI and personality have accumulated, a clear and comprehensive overview of studies on the neural correlates of personality is not available in the literature to our knowledge. The purpose of this review is to summarize findings from fMRI studies of neural correlates of personality aspects in healthy subjects, in order to provide insight into the neural activity underlying human temperament.

Section snippets

Gray's reinforcement sensitivity theory

Gray's reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) is a prominent comprehensive neurobiological personality model (Gray, 1970, Gray, 1982; Gray and McNaughton, 2000). Gray originally proposed a two-dimensional model in which impulsivity and anxiety were described as two major dimensions explaining individual differences in approach and avoidance behavior (Gray, 1970). Although Gray initially set out to unravel the biology of anxiety – not to find an explanation for human behavior per se – his

PFC

Various studies report associations between personality and the PFC. Gray's RST postulates that the BIS, BAS, and FFFS are all correlated to PFC activity. The FFFS and BIS are expected to relate to ventral PFC and dorsal PFC activity, respectively. In addition, we propose that the constraint system is related to PFC activity during effortful control tasks. While some studies find particular activation in a specific region only, most of the studies report activity in large parts of the PFC

Summary

This review examined the neural correlates of Gray's model (Gray and McNaughton, 2000; McNaughton and Corr, 2004), supplemented by a fourth dimension: constraint (Carver, 2005). The evidence for each of the four dimensions will be summarized below.

BAS-related personality traits were consistently reported to correlate positively to activity of the ventral and dorsal striatum and ventral PFC in response to positive stimuli. Finding a correlation between BAS-related personality traits and ventral

Discussion and future directions

A four-dimensional neurobiological personality model provides a potentially useful framework to describe the influence of individual differences on various experimental tasks in fMRI research. This model can be applied to research areas such as clinical research and genetics. Nevertheless, more work is needed to validate and extend the model. In particular, research is required that specifically targets the neural correlates of constraint, and that also focuses on the difference between FFFS

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments which have significantly contributed to the final manuscript.

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ReviewNeural correlates of personality: An integrative review

Abstract

Highlights

Introduction

Section snippets

Gray's reinforcement sensitivity theory

PFC

Summary

Discussion and future directions

Acknowledgements

Neuroimage

Brain Research

Neuroscience Letters

Clinical Psychology Review

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

Trends in Cognitive Science (Regular Edition)

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

Personality and Individual Differences

Current Opinion in Neurobiology

Cognitive Brain Research

Personality and Individual Differences

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

Personality and Individual Differences

Personality and Individual Differences

Neuroimage

Neuropsychologia

Trends in Cognitive Science (Regular Edition)

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

Neuron

Neuroimage

Neuroscience Letters

Behaviour Research and Therapy

Journal of Research in Personality

Appetite

Neuroimage

Neuroimage

Biological Psychiatry

Biological Psychiatry

Personality and Individual Differences

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Trends in Cognitive Sciences (Regular Edition)

Personality is reflected in the brain's intrinsic functional architecture

PLoS ONE

Impared recognition of emotion in facial expressions following bilateral damage to the human amygdala

Nature

Basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits: parallel substrates for motor, oculomotor, ‘prefrontal’ and ‘limbic’ functions

Progress in Brain Research

The anterior cingulate cortex: the evolution of an interface between emotion and cognition

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Personality: A Psychological Interpretation

Negative correlation between right prefrontal activity during response inhibition and impulsiveness: a fMRI study

European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Neural systems underlying approach and avoidance in anxiety disorders

Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience

Distinguishing BIS-mediated and BAS-mediated disinhibition mechanisms: a comparison of disinhibition models of Gray (1981, 1987) and of Patterson and Newman (1993)

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Frontostriatal response to set switching is moderated by reward sensitivity

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

Behavioral activation system modulation on brain activation during appetitive and aversive stimulus processing

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

Self-regulation failure: an overview

Psychological Inquiry

Self-regulation and personality: how interventions increase regulatory success, and how depletion moderates the effects of traits on behavior

Journal of Personality

Different neural responses to stranger and personally familiar faces in shy and bold adults

Behavioral Neuroscience

Reinforcement, arousal and temporal factors in procedural learning: a test of Eysenck's and Gray's personality theories

Journal of Individual Differences

Individual differences in reward drive predict neural responses to images of food

Journal of Neuroscience

Connectivity-based parcellation of human cingulate cortex and its relation to functional specialization

Journal of Neuroscience

Personality and anxiety disorders: a review

Journal of Personality Disorders

Review
Neural correlates of personality: An integrative review