Regional brain cerebral glucose metabolism and temperament: A positron emission tomography study

• Published in: Neuroscience letters 2006-03, Vol.396 (1), p.33-37
• Main Authors: Hakamata, Yuko, Iwase, Mikio, Iwata, Hiroshi, Kobayashi, Toshiki, Tamaki, Tsuneo, Nishio, Masami, Kawahara, Katsuhiko, Matsuda, Hiroshi, Ozaki, Norio, Honjo, Shuji, Inada, Toshiya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Behavior, Addictive - metabolism; Behavior, Addictive - physiopathology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - anatomy & histology; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - metabolism; Brain Mapping; Cerebral Cortex - anatomy & histology; Cerebral Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Cerebral Cortex - metabolism; Energy Metabolism - physiology; Exploratory Behavior - physiology; Female; Fluorodeoxyglucose; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Functional Laterality - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Glucose - metabolism; Humans; Impulsive Behavior - metabolism; Impulsive Behavior - physiopathology; Male; Middle Aged; Motivation; Nerve Net - anatomy & histology; Nerve Net - diagnostic imaging; Nerve Net - metabolism; Neural Pathways - anatomy & histology; Neural Pathways - diagnostic imaging; Neural Pathways - metabolism; Neuropsychological Tests; Nucleus Accumbens - anatomy & histology; Nucleus Accumbens - diagnostic imaging; Nucleus Accumbens - metabolism; Personality; Positron emission tomography (PET); Positron-Emission Tomography; Reward; Temperament; Temperament - physiology; Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI); Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2005.11.017

Personality, and in particular temperament, is thought to have a biological basis. In the present study, the relationships between regional brain glucose metabolism and temperament have been investigated. Regional brain glucose metabolism was measured using [ 18F] fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in 31 healthy subjects. Temperament was assessed using the Temperament and Character Inventory. Temperament dimensions were observed to be significantly correlated with specific brain regions. In particular, novelty seeking was significantly correlated with the superior temporal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, and the precuneus, which have been reported to be related with impulsiveness, while reward dependence was significantly correlated with the caudate head, which has been shown to be associated with reward processing. The various aspects of temperament may have biological bases in the specific brain regions. The accumulation of results from studies of this kind should provide further evidence connecting personality traits with their biological bases.