Abstract
Harm avoidance (HA) is a personality dimension involving the tendency to respond intensely to signals of aversive stimuli. Many previous neuroimaging studies have associated HA scores with the structural and functional organization of the amygdala, but none of these studies have evaluated the correlation between HA score and amygdala resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC). Moreover, the amygdala is not a homogeneous structure, and it has been divided into several structurally and functionally distinct subregions. Investigating the associations between HA score and properties of subregions of the amygdala could greatly improve our understanding of HA. In the present study, using a large sample of 291 healthy young adults, we aimed to uncover correlations between HA scores and the rsFCs of each amygdala subregion and to uncover possible sex-based differences in these correlations. We found that subregions of the amygdala showed different rsFC patterns, which contributed differently to individual HA scores. More specifically, HA scores were correlated with rsFCs between the laterobasal amygdala subregion and temporal and occipital cortices related to emotional information input, between the centromedial subregion and the frontal cortices associated with emotional output control, and between the superficial subregion and the frontal and temporal areas involved in both functions. Moreover, significant gender-based differences were uncovered in these correlations. Our findings provide a more detailed model of association between HA scores and amygdala rsFC, extend our understanding of the connectivity of subregions of the amygdala, and confirm sex-based differences in HA associations.
Highlights
Harm avoidance (HA) is a personality dimension derived from the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) and the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and is considered to be a heritable tendency to respond intensely to signals of aversive stimuli, which causes the inhibition of behaviors leading to punishment, novelty or frustration [1,2]
We found that individual HA scores could be predicted by the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between the LB and temporal and occipital areas, between the CM and the frontal areas, and between the SF and the frontal and temporal areas, which confirms the association between HA scores and several specific amygdala subregion rsFCs
In summary, we recruited a large sample of healthy young adults to investigate the differential contributions of amygdala subregion rsFCs to individual HA scores
Summary
Harm avoidance (HA) is a personality dimension derived from the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) and the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and is considered to be a heritable tendency to respond intensely to signals of aversive stimuli, which causes the inhibition of behaviors leading to punishment, novelty or frustration [1,2]. It should be noted that the HA and neuroticism are not entirely congruent because the former reflects a tendency to respond intensely to aversive stimuli [1,2] while the latter reflects a tendency to experience negative emotions [15], both of them are correlated with each other [16] and are associated with anxiety- and depressionrelated disorders [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,17]. The amygdala might play an important role in mediating the association between high HA scores and depression/anxiety disorders, as alterations in amygdala structure and function have been frequently reported in these disorders [21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
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
