Different neural pathways linking personality traits and eudaimonic well-being: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Eudaimonic well-being (EWB) is the fulfillment of human potential and a meaningful life. Previous studies have shown that personality traits, especially extraversion, neuroticism, and conscientiousness, significantly contribute to EWB. However, the neurobiological pathways linking personality and EWB are not understood. Here, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) to investigate this issue. Specifically, we correlated individuals’ EWB scores with the regional fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) of the brain, and then examined how personality traits predicted EWB-related spontaneous brain activity. We found that EWB was positively correlated with the fALFF in the right posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) and thalamus, and negatively correlated with the strength of the thalamic-insular connectivity. More importantly, we found that personality traits influenced EWB in different ways. At the regional level, the fALFF in the pSTG and thalamus mediated the effects of neuroticism and extraversion on EWB, whereas the thalamus mediated the effect of conscientiousness on EWB. At the functional connectivity level, the thalamic-insular connectivity only mediated the effect of neuroticism on EWB. Taken together, our study provides the first evidence that EWB is associated with personality traits through different neural substrates.

[1]  Jeffrey A. Gray,et al.  Personality Predicts Brain Responses to Cognitive Demands , 2004, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[2]  Geraint Rees,et al.  Neural correlates of the ‘good life’: eudaimonic well-being is associated with insular cortex volume , 2013, Social cognitive and affective neuroscience.

[3]  Feng Liu,et al.  Abnormal amplitude low-frequency oscillations in medication-naive, first-episode patients with major depressive disorder: a resting-state fMRI study. , 2013, Journal of affective disorders.

[4]  Robert A. Kraft,et al.  Brain Mechanisms Supporting the Modulation of Pain by Mindfulness Meditation , 2011, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[5]  M. Corbetta,et al.  Functional network dysfunction in anxiety and anxiety disorders , 2012, Trends in Neurosciences.

[6]  Hang Joon Jo,et al.  Trouble at Rest: How Correlation Patterns and Group Differences Become Distorted After Global Signal Regression , 2012, Brain Connect..

[7]  P. Haggard,et al.  Neural signatures of body ownership: a sensory network for bodily self-consciousness. , 2007, Cerebral cortex.

[8]  P. Benson,et al.  Recognizing one's own face , 2001, Cognition.

[9]  A. Caramazza,et al.  Predicting Conceptual Processing Capacity from Spontaneous Neuronal Activity of the Left Middle Temporal Gyrus , 2012, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[10]  F. Huppert,et al.  The relationship between early personality and midlife psychological well-being: evidence from a UK birth cohort study , 2008, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

[11]  Stephen M. Smith,et al.  Improved Optimization for the Robust and Accurate Linear Registration and Motion Correction of Brain Images , 2002, NeuroImage.

[12]  Ulf Lundberg,et al.  Factor structure of Ryff’s psychological well-being scales in Swedish female and male white-collar workers , 2006 .

[13]  Kevin Murphy,et al.  The impact of global signal regression on resting state correlations: Are anti-correlated networks introduced? , 2009, NeuroImage.

[14]  A. Mackey,et al.  Resting-State fMRI , 2014, The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry.

[15]  Paul T. Costa,et al.  Personality Disorders and the Five-Factor Model of Personality , 1994 .

[16]  R. Davidson,et al.  Sustained Striatal Activity Predicts Eudaimonic Well-being and Cortisol Output on Behalf Of: Association for Psychological Science , 2013 .

[17]  Zhen Yang,et al.  Regional Homogeneity of Intrinsic Brain Activity in Happy and Unhappy Individuals , 2014, PloS one.

[18]  K. Christoff,et al.  Experience sampling during fMRI reveals default network and executive system contributions to mind wandering , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[19]  E. Deci,et al.  Living well: a self-determination theory perspective on eudaimonia , 2008 .

[20]  V. Menon,et al.  Personality predicts activity in reward and emotional regions associated with humor. , 2005, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[21]  M. Raichle.  Two views of brain function , 2010, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[22]  J. Decety,et al.  From the perception of action to the understanding of intention , 2001, Nature reviews. Neuroscience.

[23]  Gerald Langner,et al.  The oscillating brain , 2015 .

[24]  G. Strauss,et al.  Negative symptoms and depression predict lower psychological well-being in individuals with schizophrenia. , 2012, Comprehensive psychiatry.

[25]  E. Lopez-Zafra,et al.  Emotional intelligence and personality traits as predictors of psychological well-being in Spanish undergraduates , 2010 .

[26]  B. Biswal,et al.  Functional connectivity in the motor cortex of resting human brain using echo‐planar mri , 1995, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[27]  H. Critchley,et al.  A common role of insula in feelings, empathy and uncertainty , 2009, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[28]  P. Belin,et al.  Thinking the voice: neural correlates of voice perception , 2004, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[29]  Ying Han,et al.  Frequency-dependent changes in the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: A resting-state fMRI study , 2011, NeuroImage.

[30]  Huafu Chen,et al.  Specific frequency bands of amplitude low‐frequency oscillation encodes personality , 2014, Human brain mapping.

[31]  P. Costa,et al.  NEO inventories for the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (NEO-PI-3), NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3 (NEO-FFI-3), NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R) : professional manual , 2010 .

[32]  C. Ryff.  Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. , 1989 .

[33]  R. Guillery,et al.  Exploring the Thalamus and Its Role in Cortical Function , 2005 .

[34]  S. Costafreda,et al.  Neuroticism and the brain: A quantitative meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies investigating emotion processing , 2013, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

[35]  Corianne Rogalsky,et al.  Increased activation in the right insula during risk-taking decision making is related to harm avoidance and neuroticism , 2003, NeuroImage.

[36]  Yong He,et al.  Discriminative analysis of early Alzheimer's disease using multi-modal imaging and multi-level characterization with multi-classifier (M3) , 2012, NeuroImage.

[37]  Alfonso Caramazza,et al.  Where color rests: Spontaneous brain activity of bilateral fusiform and lingual regions predicts object color knowledge performance , 2013, NeuroImage.

[38]  Richard J. Haier,et al.  The Study of Personality with Positron Emission Tomography , 1987 .

[39]  Stephen M. Smith,et al.  A global optimisation method for robust affine registration of brain images , 2001, Medical Image Anal..

[40]  M. Fox,et al.  Spontaneous fluctuations in brain activity observed with functional magnetic resonance imaging , 2007, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[41]  C. Keyes,et al.  The structure of psychological well-being revisited , 1995 .

[42]  Kristopher J Preacher,et al.  The Hierarchical Structure of Well-being , 2022 .

[43]  J. Panksepp,et al.  The trans-species concept of self and the subcortical–cortical midline system , 2008, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[44]  Mingzhou Ding,et al.  Increased Activity Imbalance in Fronto-Subcortical Circuits in Adolescents with Major Depression , 2011, PloS one.

[45]  Bruce Headey,et al.  Personality, life events, and subjective well-being: Toward a dynamic equilibrium model. , 1989 .

[46]  C. Koch,et al.  A framework for consciousness , 2003, Nature Neuroscience.

[47]  Tianzi Jiang,et al.  Regional homogeneity, functional connectivity and imaging markers of Alzheimer's disease: A review of resting-state fMRI studies , 2008, Neuropsychologia.

[48]  R. Nathan Spreng,et al.  Patterns of Brain Activity Supporting Autobiographical Memory, Prospection, and Theory of Mind, and Their Relationship to the Default Mode Network , 2010, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[49]  T. Suslow,et al.  Automatic brain response to facial emotion as a function of implicitly and explicitly measured extraversion , 2010, Neuroscience.

[50]  Veena Kumari,et al.  Neuroticism and brain responses to anticipatory fear. , 2007, Behavioral neuroscience.

[51]  Otto W. Witte,et al.  Thalamocortical connectivity during resting state in schizophrenia , 2014, European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience.

[52]  Bharat B. Biswal,et al.  Resting state fMRI: A personal history , 2012, NeuroImage.

[53]  E. Deci,et al.  On happiness and human potentials: a review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. , 2001, Annual review of psychology.

[54]  Bharat B. Biswal,et al.  The oscillating brain: Complex and reliable , 2010, NeuroImage.

[55]  Xi-Nian Zuo,et al.  Amplitude of low-frequency oscillations in schizophrenia: A resting state fMRI study , 2010, Schizophrenia Research.

[56]  Yasuyuki Taki,et al.  Resting state functional connectivity associated with trait emotional intelligence , 2013, NeuroImage.

[57]  Qiyong Gong,et al.  Intrinsic brain abnormalities in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a resting-state functional MR imaging study. , 2014, Radiology.

[58]  S. Lyubomirsky,et al.  Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change , 2005 .

[59]  Nathalie Boddaert,et al.  Autism, the superior temporal sulcus and social perception , 2006, Trends in Neurosciences.

[60]  Daniel D. Dilks,et al.  Resting-State Neural Activity across Face-Selective Cortical Regions Is Behaviorally Relevant , 2011, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[61]  Yufeng Zang,et al.  Linking inter-individual differences in neural activation and behavior to intrinsic brain dynamics , 2011, NeuroImage.

[62]  Wei Chen,et al.  Amplitude of Low-Frequency Oscillations in First-Episode, Treatment-Naive Patients with Major Depressive Disorder: A Resting-State Functional MRI Study , 2012, PloS one.

[63]  Nicholas Ayache,et al.  Medical Image Analysis: Progress over Two Decades and the Challenges Ahead , 2000, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[64]  Jie Lu,et al.  Changes of gray matter volume and amplitude of low-frequency oscillations in amnestic MCI: An integrative multi-modal MRI study , 2015, Acta radiologica.

[65]  Mert R. Sabuncu,et al.  The influence of head motion on intrinsic functional connectivity MRI , 2012, NeuroImage.

[66]  P. Costa,et al.  Domains and facets: hierarchical personality assessment using the revised NEO personality inventory. , 1995, Journal of personality assessment.

[67]  Serge Brédart,et al.  The neural correlates of visual self-recognition , 2011, Consciousness and Cognition.

[68]  Danilo Garcia,et al.  Two models of personality and well-being among adolescents , 2011 .

[69]  Justin S. Feinstein,et al.  Anterior insula reactivity during certain decisions is associated with neuroticism. , 2006, Social cognitive and affective neuroscience.

[70]  Turhan Canli,et al.  Amygdala gray matter concentration is associated with extraversion and neuroticism , 2005, Neuroreport.

[71]  S. Platek,et al.  Is family special to the brain? An event-related fMRI study of familiar, familial, and self-face recognition , 2009, Neuropsychologia.

[72]  Piers Steel,et al.  Refining the relationship between personality and subjective well-being. , 2008, Psychological bulletin.

[73]  J. Gray,et al.  Testing Predictions From Personality Neuroscience , 2010, Psychological science.

[74]  C. Ryff,et al.  Personality and well-being: reexamining methods and meanings. , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[75]  A. Damasio,et al.  Subcortical and cortical brain activity during the feeling of self-generated emotions , 2000, Nature Neuroscience.

[76]  H. Hwu,et al.  Frequency‐specific alternations in the amplitude of low‐frequency fluctuations in schizophrenia , 2014, Human brain mapping.

[77]  Chaozhe Zhu,et al.  An improved approach to detection of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) for resting-state fMRI: Fractional ALFF , 2008, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[78]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Spontaneous neuronal activity predicts intersubject variations in executive control of attention , 2014, Neuroscience.

[79]  M. Bellani,et al.  Thalamic‐insular dysconnectivity in schizophrenia: Evidence from structural equation modeling , 2012, Human brain mapping.

[80]  Christine L. Cox,et al.  The balance between feeling and knowing: affective and cognitive empathy are reflected in the brain's intrinsic functional dynamics. , 2012, Social cognitive and affective neuroscience.

[81]  A. Craig,et al.  How do you feel — now? The anterior insula and human awareness , 2009, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[82]  Kristopher J Preacher,et al.  Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models , 2008, Behavior research methods.

[83]  J. Langan-Fox,et al.  The Big Five Traits as Predictors of Subjective and Psychological Well-Being , 2009, Psychological reports.

[84]  Richard J. Davidson,et al.  Individual Differences in Amygdala and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity are Associated with Evaluation Speed and Psychological Well-being , 2007, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.