Individual Differences in Personality Traits

Abstract

Abstract. During the last decade, an increasing number of studies have used neuroscientific methods to examine the relationships between different personality traits and brain structures. This includes the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)-based analysis of correlations between individual differences in personality traits and the structural variance of specific brain regions. Perfectionism is a personality trait that remains relatively stable over time, and it is influenced by heredity. In this study, the possible brain regions that structurally correlated with both positive and negative perfectionism were investigated. Voxel-based morphometry was used to analyze the whole brain MRI images of 49 participants, and their levels of perfectionism were also evaluated using a standard scale. The statistical analysis revealed significant correlations between negative perfectionism and the gray matter volume of the thalamus and left posterior parietal cortex (precuneus) structures. This finding suggests that differences in perfectionism between individuals may reflect structural variances in these regions of the brain.