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Atypical neural activation associated with implicit negative emotional facial processing in fMRI tasks in individuals with neuroticism personality traits

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Abstract

Neuroticism is a personality trait that reflects emotional instability and is related to negative emotions, such as sensitivity to negative information and negative appraisal. Existing studies on the neural basis of the neuroticism personality trait have focused on explicit emotion processing and neglected to acknowledge the potentially important role of implicit emotion processing, especially using an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) task with a Chinese sample. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to investigate differences in brain activation in an implicit negative emotion processing fMRI task between individuals with high and low neuroticism scores within a Chinese sample. To this end, the revised NEO-PI-R (Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Personality Inventory) was used to identify 82 high-neuroticism participants and 82 low-neuroticism participants, who were then scanned during an implicit negative emotion processing fMRI task. Compared to the participants with low neuroticism scores, those with high neuroticism scores showed significantly decreased brain activation in the mPFC (medial prefrontal cortex), which plays a pivotal role in implicit emotion processing; these data might suggest that individuals with high neuroticism have deficits in implicit negative emotion processing, which may be related to their emotional instability, emotional regulation and attention-related spontaneous activity.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This study funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 31800947) and Nanhu Scholars Program for Young Scholars of Xinyang Normal university.

Author Contributions Statements

Qiu conceived the experiments, proposed many constructive advises in manuscript. Yang and Yu conducted the experiments, analyzed the results and carried on paper writing, Wang provided many constructive advises in manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Junyi Yang and Yaxu Yu contributed equally to this work.

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  1. Junyi Yang and Yaxu Yu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of education science, Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang, Henan, China

    Junyi Yang & Wan Wang

  2. School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China

    Yaxu Yu & Jiang Qiu

  3. Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China

    Yaxu Yu & Jiang Qiu

  4. Southwest University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment Toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Jiang Qiu

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  1. Junyi Yang
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Correspondence to Junyi Yang.

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The Brain Imaging Center Institutional Review Board of a local China university approved this study and the experimental procedure. All participants provided written informed consent and received proper payment.

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Yang, J., Yu, Y., Wang, W. et al. Atypical neural activation associated with implicit negative emotional facial processing in fMRI tasks in individuals with neuroticism personality traits. Curr Psychol 42, 906–913 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01486-0

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