Open AccessPersonality and complex brain networks: The role of openness to experience in default network efficiency
Author(s) -
Beaty Roger E.,
Kaufman Scott Barry,
Benedek Mathias,
Jung Rex E.,
Kenett Yoed N.,
Jauk Emanuel,
Neubauer Aljoscha C.,
Silvia Paul J.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
human brain mapping
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.005
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1097-0193
pISSN - 1065-9471
DOI - 10.1002/hbm.23065
Subject(s) - openness to experience , psychology , personality , cognition , cognitive psychology , structural equation modeling , trait , big five personality traits , need for cognition , developmental psychology , social psychology , neuroscience , statistics , mathematics , computer science , programming language
The brain's default network (DN) has been a topic of considerable empirical interest. In fMRI research, DN activity is associated with spontaneous and self‐generated cognition, such as mind‐wandering, episodic memory retrieval, future thinking, mental simulation, theory of mind reasoning, and creative cognition. Despite large literatures on developmental and disease‐related influences on the DN, surprisingly little is known about the factors that impact normal variation in DN functioning. Using structural equation modeling and graph theoretical analysis of resting‐state fMRI data, we provide evidence that Openness to Experience—a normally distributed personality trait reflecting a tendency to engage in imaginative, creative, and abstract cognitive processes—underlies efficiency of information processing within the DN. Across two studies, Openness predicted the global efficiency of a functional network comprised of DN nodes and corresponding edges. In Study 2, Openness remained a robust predictor—even after controlling for intelligence, age, gender, and other personality variables—explaining 18% of the variance in DN functioning. These findings point to a biological basis of Openness to Experience, and suggest that normally distributed personality traits affect the intrinsic architecture of large‐scale brain systems. Hum Brain Mapp 37:773–779, 2016 . © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc .