Abstract
The amygdala plays a key role in emotion processing. Its functional connectivity with other brain regions has been extensively demonstrated to be associated with extraversion and neuroticism. However, how the amygdala affects other regions and is affected by others within these connectivity patterns associated with extraversion and neuroticism remains unclear. To address this issue, we investigated the effective connectivity of the amygdala using Granger causality analysis on the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 70 participants. Results showed that extraversion was positively correlated with the influence from the right inferior occipital gyrus (IOG) to the left amygdala, and from the bilateral IOG to the right amygdala; such result may represent the neural correlates of social interactions in extraverts. Conversely, neuroticism was associated with an increased influence from right amygdala to right middle frontal gyrus and a decreased influence from right precuneus to right amygdala. This influence might affect the modulations of cognitive regulation function and self-referential processes in neurotic individuals. These findings highlight the importance of the causal influences of amygdala in explaining the individual differences in extraversion and neuroticism, and offer further insights into the specific neural networks underlying personality.
Highlights
The amygdala plays a key role in emotion processing
Extraversion and neuroticism are of particular importance in individuals because their brain correlates may contribute to a predisposition toward socio-emotional functioning and psychopathology[3,4]
Extraversion was positively correlated with the Effective connectivity (EC) from the right inferior occipital gyrus (IOG) to the left amygdala, and from the bilateral IOG to the right amygdala (p < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected, Fig. 1, Table 1)
Summary
The amygdala plays a key role in emotion processing. Its functional connectivity with other brain regions has been extensively demonstrated to be associated with extraversion and neuroticism. Neuroticism was associated with an increased influence from right amygdala to right middle frontal gyrus and a decreased influence from right precuneus to right amygdala This influence might affect the modulations of cognitive regulation function and self-referential processes in neurotic individuals. These findings highlight the importance of the causal influences of amygdala in explaining the individual differences in extraversion and neuroticism, and offer further insights into the specific neural networks underlying personality. Eysenck’s biological approach is perhaps the most influential model of human personality, suggesting that individual variations in emotional arousal can be described along three dimensions: extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism[2] Among these traits, extraversion and neuroticism are of particular importance in individuals because their brain correlates may contribute to a predisposition toward socio-emotional functioning and psychopathology[3,4]. The importance of the amygdala in emotion processing and its implication in extraversion and neuroticism, the information flow of the amygdala is expected to be fundamental to stable individual differences in these two key dimensions
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