Fiber connectivity between the striatum and cortical and subcortical regions is associated with temperaments in Chinese males

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Fla.), 2014-04, Vol.89, p.226-234
• Main Authors: Lei, Xuemei, Chen, Chuansheng, Xue, Feng, He, Qinghua, Chen, Chunhui, Liu, Qi, Moyzis, Robert K., Xue, Gui, Cao, Zhongyu, Li, Jin, Li, He, Zhu, Bi, Liu, Yuyun, Hsu, Anna Shan Chun, Li, Jun, Dong, Qi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Amygdala - anatomy & histology; Asian Continental Ancestry Group; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Brain - anatomy & histology; Cerebral Cortex - anatomy & histology; Corpus Striatum - anatomy & histology; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; DTI; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Medical imaging; Nerve Fibers, Myelinated; Nerve Net - anatomy & histology; Neural networks; Neural Pathways; Personality; Striatum; Studies; TCI; Temperament; Temperaments; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.04.043

The seven-factor biopsychosocial model of personality distinguished four biologically based temperaments and three psychosocially based characters. Previous studies have suggested that the four temperaments—novelty seeking (NS), reward dependence (RD), harm avoidance (HA), and persistence (P)—have their respective neurobiological correlates, especially in the striatum-connected subcortical and cortical networks. However, few studies have investigated their neurobiological basis in the form of fiber connectivity between brain regions. This study correlated temperaments with fiber connectivity between the striatum and subcortical and cortical hub regions in a sample of 50 Chinese adult males. Generally consistent with our hypotheses, results showed that: (1) NS was positively correlated with fiber connectivity from the medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC, lOFC) and amygdala to the striatum; (2) RD was positively correlated with fiber connectivity from the mOFC, posterior cingulate cortex/retrosplenial cortex (PCC), hippocampus, and amygdala to the striatum; (3) HA was positively linked to fiber connectivity from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and PCC to the striatum; and (4) P was positively linked to fiber connectivity from the mOFC to the striatum. These results extended the research on the neurobiological basis of temperaments by identifying their anatomical fiber connectivity correlates within the subcortical–cortical neural networks. •NS was correlated with connectivity from OFC and amygdala to the striatum.•RD was correlated with connectivity from mOFC, PCC, hippocampus and amygdala to the striatum.•HA was correlated with connectivity from dlPFC and PCC to the striatum.•P was correlated with connectivity from mOFC to the striatum.