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Neuroticism and extraversion are associated with amygdala resting-state functional connectivity

Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience volume 14, pages 836–848 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

The personality traits neuroticism and extraversion are differentially related to socioemotional functioning and susceptibility to affective disorders. However, the neurobiology underlying this differential relationship is still poorly understood. This discrepancy could perhaps best be studied by adopting a brain connectivity approach. Whereas the amygdala has repeatedly been linked to neuroticism and extraversion, no study has yet focused on the intrinsic functional architecture of amygdala-centered networks in relation to both traits. To this end, seed-based correlation analysis was employed to reveal amygdala resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and its associations with neuroticism and extraversion in 50 healthy participants. Higher neuroticism scores were associated with increased amygdala RSFC with the precuneus, and decreased amygdala RSFC with the temporal poles, insula, and superior temporal gyrus (p < .05, cluster corrected). Conversely, higher extraversion scores were associated with increased amygdala RSFC with the putamen, temporal pole, insula, and several regions of the occipital cortex (p < .05, cluster corrected). The shifts in amygdala RSFC associated with neuroticism may relate to the less-adaptive perception and processing of self-relevant and socioemotional information that is frequently seen in neurotic individuals, whereas the amygdala RSFC pattern associated with extraversion may relate to the heightened reward sensitivity and enhanced socioemotional functioning in extraverts. We hypothesize that the variability in amygdala RSFC observed in the present study could potentially link neuroticism and extraversion to the neurobiology underlying increased susceptibility or resilience to affective disorders.

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Author Note

The authors gratefully acknowledge Ramona Demenescu and Anita Kuiper for the MRI data acquisition, and Henk Cremers and Tom Johnstone for their valuable discussions and input on the methods. The infrastructure for the NESDA study is funded through the Geestkracht program of the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw, Grant No. 10-000-1002) and is supported by the participating universities and mental health care organizations (VU University Medical Center, GGZ inGeest, Arkin, Leiden University Medical Center, GGZ Rivierduinen, University Medical Center Groningen, Lentis, GGZ Friesland, GGZ Drenthe, IQ Healthcare, the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research [NIVEL], and the Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction [Trimbos Institute]). Part of this research was supported by a VIDI grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) to S.A.R.B.R., and by the NWO National Initiative Brain and Cognition (NWO-NIHC, Project Nos. 056-25-010 and 056-23-011).

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Affiliations

  1. Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, The Netherlands

    Moji Aghajani, Ilya M. Veer, Mark A. van Buchem, Serge A. R. B. Rombouts & Nic J. van der Wee

  2. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Curium, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Moji Aghajani

  3. Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Ilya M. Veer

  4. BCN NeuroImaging Center, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Marie-José van Tol & André Aleman

  5. Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Mark A. van Buchem & Serge A. R. B. Rombouts

  6. Department of Psychiatry, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Dick J. Veltman

  7. Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Serge A. R. B. Rombouts

  8. Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Nic J. van der Wee

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  1. Moji Aghajani
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Correspondence to Ilya M. Veer.

Additional information

Moji Aghajani and Ilya M. Veer contributed equally to this work.

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Supplemental Figure 1
figure 3

Amygdala resting-state functional connectivity associated with neuroticism at an uncorrected threshold of Z>2.3. Red and yellow denote a positive association with functional connectivity of the left and right amygdala, respectively. Blue and green denote a negative association with functional connectivity of the left and right amygdala, respectively. The results are superimposed on the MNI-152 standard brain. The right side of the images corresponds to the left side of the brain and vice-versa (JPEG 57 kb)

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Supplemental Figure 2
figure 4

Amygdala resting-state functional connectivity associated with extraversion at an uncorrected threshold of Z>2.3. Red and yellow denote a positive association with functional connectivity of the left and right amygdala, respectively. Blue and green denote a negative association with functional connectivity of the left and right amygdala, respectively. The results are superimposed on the MNI-152 standard brain. The right side of the images corresponds to the left side of the brain and vice-versa. (JPEG 60 kb)

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Aghajani, M., Veer, I.M., van Tol, MJ. et al. Neuroticism and extraversion are associated with amygdala resting-state functional connectivity. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 14, 836–848 (2014). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-013-0224-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-013-0224-0

Keywords

  • Neuroticism
  • Extraversion
  • Amygdala
  • Resting-state fMRI
  • Functional connectivity