Abstract
In the last years, there has been a considerable increase of research into the neuroimaging correlates of inter-individual temperament and character variability-an endeavour for which the term 'personality neuroscience' was coined. Among other neuroimaging modalities and approaches, substantial work focuses on functional connectivity in resting state (rs-FC) functional magnetic resonance imaging data. In the current paper, we set out to independently query the questions asked in a highly cited study that reported a range of functional connectivity correlates of personality dimensions assessed by the widely used 'Big Five' Personality Inventory. Using a larger sample (84 subjects) and an equivalent data analysis pipeline, we obtained widely disagreeing results compared to the original study. Overall, the results were in line with the hypotheses of no relation between functional connectivity and personality, when more precise permutation-based multiple testing procedures were applied. The results demonstrate that as with other neuroimaging studies, great caution should be applied when interpreting the findings, among other reasons due to multiple testing problem involved at several levels in many neuroimaging studies. Of course, the current study results can not ultimately disprove the existence of some link between personality and brain's intrinsic functional architecture, but clearly shows that its form is very likely different and much more subtle and elusive than was previously reported.
Highlights
In their lives, people encounter many different situations and they can act in many different ways
Functional connectivity correlates of personality domain scores
When using the original denoising scheme and statistical inference method, we have observed significant results in 74 out of the 180 analyses carried out. These include a number of areas of functional connectivity correlates for each of domain neuroticism extraversion openness agreeableness conscientiousness
Summary
People encounter many different situations and they can act in many different ways. Their behaviour is not random and it tends to be partly predictable. This invariance in how people think, feel and behave is being incorporated in the term personality [1]. The popular solution is the Five-Factor Model or Big Five [3].
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