The structural neuroanatomy of self-disgust: A VBM analysis with a non-clinical sample

Abstract

The personality trait self-disgust describes the tendency of individuals to appraise themselves as repulsive. This may refer to their own body and personality (‘personal self-disgust’) and/or to their behaviors (‘behavioral self-disgust’). The current voxel-based morphometry (VBM) study aimed at identifying associations between grey matter volume (GMV) in specific brain regions of the ‘disgust network’ (e.g., insula, prefrontal cortex) and reported self-disgust in a non-clinical sample. VBM data from 59 women (mean age = 24.8 years) with high vs. low scores on a self-disgust questionnaire were compared with each other. Relative to women with low personal self-disgust, women with a higher degree of this trait were characterized by less GMV in the bilateral insula. This difference was independent of depressed mood. The reduced insula volume may be one neural correlate of an undifferentiated, negatively valenced self-concept.