Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Brain correlates of pro-social personality traits: a voxel-based morphometry study

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Brain Imaging and Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

    We’re sorry, something doesn't seem to be working properly.

    Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.

Abstract

Of the five personality dimensions described by the Big Five Personality Model (Costa and McCrae 1992), Extraversion and Agreeableness are the traits most commonly associated with a pro-social orientation. In this study we tested whether a pro-social orientation, as expressed in terms of Extraversion and Agreeableness, is associated with a specific grey matter phenotype. Fifty-two healthy participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and completed the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), a self-report measure of the Big Five personality traits. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to investigate the correlation between brain structure and the personality traits of Agreeableness and Extraversion. We found that Extraversion was negatively correlated with grey matter density in the middle frontal and orbitofrontal gyri while Agreeableness was negatively correlated with grey matter density in the inferior parietal, middle occipital and posterior cingulate gyri. No positive correlations were found. These results suggest that pro-social personality traits seem to be associated with decreases in grey matter density in more frontal regions for Extraversion, and more posterior regions for Agreeableness.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
€32.70 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Netherlands)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adolphs, R., Tranel, D., Damasio, H., & Damasio, A. (1994). Impaired recognition of emotion in facial expressions following bilateral damage to the human amygdala. Nature, 372, 669–672.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Amodio, D. M., & Frith, C. D. (2006). Meeting of minds: the medial frontal cortex and social cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 7, 268–277.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ashburner, J. (2007). A fast diffeomorphic image registration algorithm. NeuroImage, 38(1), 95–113.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ashburner, J., & Friston, K. J. (2000). Voxel-based morphometry—the methods. NeuroImage, 11(6), 805–821.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ashburner, J., & Friston, K. J. (2009). Computing average shaped tissue probability templates. NeuroImage, 45(2), 333–334.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barrós-Loscertales, A., Meseguer, V., Sanjuán, A., Belloch, V., Parcet, M., Torrubia, R., et al. (2006). Striatum gray matter reduction in males with an overactive behavioral activation system. European Journal of Neuroscience, 24, 2071–2074.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1995). Domains and facets: hierarchical personality assessment using the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. Journal of Personality Assessment, 64, 21–50.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, P. T., Jr., & McRae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual. Odessa: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cremers, H., van Tol, M. J., Roelofs, K., Aleman, A., Zitman, F. G., van Buchem, M. A., et al. (2011). Extraversion is linked to volume of the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala. PLoS One, 6(12), e28421. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028421.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Demaree, H. A., Everhart, D. E., Youngstrom, E. A., & Harrison, D. W. (2005). Brain later-alization of emotional processing: historical roots and a future incorporating “dominance”. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews, 4, 3–20.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Depue, R. A., & Collins, P. F. (1999). Neurobiology of the structure of personality: dopamine, facilitation of incentive motivation, and extraversion. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 491–569.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • DeYoung, C. G., Hirsh, J. B., Shane, M. S., Papademetris, X., Rajeevan, N., & Gray, J. R. (2010). Testing predictions from personality neuroscience. Psychological Science, 21(6), 820.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Egan, V., Deary, I., & Austin, E. (2000). The NEO-FFI: emerging british norms and an item-level analysis suggest N, A and C are more reliable than O and E. Personality and Individual Differences, 29, 907–920.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forsman, L. J., de Manzano, O., Karabanov, A., Madison, G., & Ullén, F. (2012). Differences in regional brain volume related to the extraversion–introversion dimension—a voxel based morphometry study. Neuroscience Research, 72(1), 59–67.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Garavan, H., Ross, T. J., & Stein, E. A. (1999). Right hemispheric dominance of inhibitory control: an event-related functional MRI study. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 96, 8301–8306.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Good, C. D., Johnsrude, I. S., Ashburner, J., Henson, R. N. A., Friston, K. J., & Frackowiak, R. S. J. (2001). A voxel-based morphometric study of ageing in 465 normal adult human brains. NeuroImage, 14, 21–36.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gusnard, D. A., Akbudak, E., Shulman, G. L., & Raichle, M. E. (2001). Medial prefrontal cortex and self-referential mental activity: relation to a default mode of brain functioning. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 98(7), 4259–4264.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hooker, C., Verosky, S., Germine, L., Knight, R., & D’Esposito, M. (2010). Neural activity during social signal perception correlates with self-reported empathy. Brain Research, 1308, 100–113.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, D. L., Wiebe, J. S., Gold, S. M., Andreasen, N. C., Hichwa, R. D., Watkins, G. L., et al. (1999). Cerebral blood flow and personality: a positron emission tomography study. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 156(2), 252–257.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kanwisher, N., McDermott, J., & Chun, M. (1997). The fusiform face area: a module in human extrastriate cortex specialized for face perception. The Journal of Neuroscience, 17(11), 4302–4311.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Manga, D., Ramos, F., & Móran, C. (2004). The Spanish norms of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory: new data and analysis for its improvement. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 4(3), 639–648.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1990). Personality in adulthood. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miettunen, J., Veijola, J., Lauronen, E., Kantojärvi, L., & Joukamaa, M. (2007). Sex differences in Cloninger’s temperament dimensions—a meta-analysis. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 48, 161–169.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Milad, M. R., & Rauch, S. L. (2007). The role of the orbitofrontal cortex in anxiety disorders. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1121, 546–561.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Omura, K., Todd Constable, R., & Canli, T. (2005). Amygdala gray matter concentration is associated with extraversion and neuroticism. NeuroReport, 16, 1905–1908.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rademacher, L., Krach, S., Kohls, G., Irmak, A., Gründer, G., & Spreckelmeyer, K. (2010). Dissociation of neural networks for anticipation and consumption of monetary and social rewards. NeuroImage, 49, 3276–3285.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rauch, S. L., Milad, M. R., Orr, S. P., Quinn, B. T., Fischl, B., & Pitman, R. K. (2005). Orbitofrontal thickness, retention of fear extinction, and extraversion. NeuroReport, 16, 1909–1912.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reiss, A. L., Abrams, M. T., Singer, H. S., Ross, J. L., & Denckla, M. B. (1996). Brain development, gender and IQ in children. A volumetric imaging study. Brain, 119, 1763–1774.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rorden, C., & Brett, M. (2000). Stereotaxic display of brain lesions. Behavioral Neurology, 12(4), 191–200.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Samson, D., Apperly, I., & Humphreys, G. (2004). Left temporoparietal junction is necessary for representing someone else’s belief. Nature Neuroscience, 7, 499–500.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saxe, R., & Powell, L. J. (2006). It’s the thought that counts: specific brain regions for one component of theory of mind. Psychological Science, 17, 692–699.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sowell, E. R., Thompson, P. M., Holmes, C. J., Jernigan, T. L., & Toga, A. W. (1999). In vivo evidence for post-adolescent brain maturation in frontal and striatal regions. Nature Neuroscience, 2, 859–861.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sowell, E. R., Delis, D., Stiles, J., & Jernigan, T. L. (2001). Improved memory functioning and frontal lobe maturation between childhood and adolescence: a structural MRI study. Journal of International Neuropsychological Society, 7, 312–322.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sowell, E. R., Thompson, P. M., Leonard, C. M., Welcome, S. E., Kan, E., & Toga, A. W. (2004). Longitudinal mapping of cortical thickness and brain growth in normal children. The Journal of Neuroscience, 24(38), 8223–8231.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tzourio-Mazoyer, N., Landeau, B., Papathanassiou, D., Crivello, F., Etard, O., Delcroix, N., et al. (2002). Automated anatomical labeling of activations in SPM using a macroscopic anatomical parcellation of the MNI MRI single-subject brain. NeuroImage, 15(1), 273–289.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Volkow, N. D., Tomasi, D., Wang, G. J., Fowler, J. S., Telang, F., Goldstein, R. Z., et al. (2011). Positive emotionality is associated with baseline metabolism in orbitofrontal cortex and in regions of the default network. Molecular Psychiatry, 1–8.

  • Wright, C. I., Williams, D., Feczko, E., Barrett, L. F., Dickerson, B. C., Schwartz, C. E., et al. (2006). Neuroanatomical correlates of extraversion and neuroticism. Cerebral Cortex, 16(12), 1809–1819.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, C. I., Feczko, E., Dickerson, B., & Williams, D. (2007). Neuroanatomical correlates of personality in the elderly. NeuroImage, 35, 263–272.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT): PIC/IC/83290/2007, which is supported by FEDER (POFC – COMPETE), and postdoctoral grant number: SFRH/BPD/75014/2010.

The authors acknowledge Jaime Rocha for discussions on neuroimaging.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuropsychophysiology Lab, CIPsi, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal

    Joana F. Coutinho, Adriana Sampaio & Miguel Ferreira

  2. Life and Health Science Research Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    José M. Soares

  3. ICVS/3B’s- PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal

    José M. Soares

  4. Neuropsychophysiology Lab, CIPsi, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710‐057, Braga, Portugal

    Oscar F. Gonçalves

Authors
  1. Joana F. Coutinho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Adriana Sampaio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Miguel Ferreira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. José M. Soares
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Oscar F. Gonçalves
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joana F. Coutinho.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Coutinho, J.F., Sampaio, A., Ferreira, M. et al. Brain correlates of pro-social personality traits: a voxel-based morphometry study. Brain Imaging and Behavior 7, 293–299 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-013-9227-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-013-9227-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation