Abstract

Cognitive research has long been aware of the relationship between individual differences in personality and performance on behavioural tasks. However, within the field of cognitive neuroscience, the way in which such differences manifest at a neural level has received relatively little attention. We review recent research addressing the relationship between personality traits and the neural response to viewing facial signals of emotion. In one section, we discuss work demonstrating the relationship between anxiety and the amygdala response to facial signals of threat. A second section considers research showing that individual differences in reward drive (behavioural activation system), a trait linked to aggression, influence the neural responsivity and connectivity between brain regions implicated in aggression when viewing facial signals of anger. Finally, we address recent criticisms of the correlational approach to fMRI analyses and conclude that when used appropriately, analyses examining the relationship between personality and brain activity provide a useful tool for understanding the neural basis of facial expression processing and emotion processing in general.

Highlights

  • Over the past 15 years, there has been an explosion of interest in the neuropsychological basis of human emotion

  • The current paper explores how the function of components in the extended face system is affected by individual differences in personality traits that influence the manner in which we interact with facial signals of emotion and other emotional cues

  • To determine the reliability of these anxiety-related brain activations, we have summarized the results of the aforementioned studies using activation likelihood estimations (ALEs) [75]

Read more

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Over the past 15 years, there has been an explosion of interest in the neuropsychological basis of human emotion. Additional research has shown that heightened levels of nonclinical anxiety can affect recognition of facial signals of fear [20]; for example, high-anxious individuals show increased sensitivity to low intensity exemplars of fearful faces in morphed facial continua; see Surcinelli et al [21] Functional neuroimaging techniques, such as fMRI, are potentially as sensitive as the behavioural or cognitive paradigms used to study the effects of personality. The latter occurs because lower and higher scores on the personality dimension are associated with relative reductions and increases, respectively, in the neural response to the contrast of interest, producing an overall effect that does not statistically differ from zero. We conclude that when used appropriately, neuroimaging analyses that factor in the relationship between relevant personality variables and neural activity provide a fruitful approach to understanding the neural basis of facial expression processing and social cognition in general

ANXIETY AND THE PROCESSING OF FACIAL SIGNALS OF THREAT
Findings
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND FUNCTIONAL IMAGING

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.