Blankstein Udi, Chen Jerry Y W, Mincic Adina M, McGrath Patricia A, Davis Karen D
Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Neuropsychologia. 2009 Jan;47(2):599-603. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.10.014. Epub 2008 Oct 25.
Extraversion and neuroticism influence behaviour and mood. Extreme expressions of these personality traits may predispose individuals to developing chronic functional pains and mood disorders that predominantly affect women. We acquired anatomical MRI scans and personality scores from healthy male and female adolescents and measured gray matter volume (GMV) and cortical thickness to test the hypothesis that neuroticism and extraversion contribute to sex differences in fronto-limbic cortical development during a crucial period of social and biological maturation. In females, extraversion correlated negatively with medial frontal gyrus GMV and neuroticism correlated positively with subgenual anterior cingulate cortex GMV and cortical thickness. Interestingly, correlations between GMV and personality in males showed an opposite effect. Given the association of these cortical areas with social cognition and emotional processing, we suggest that a neuro-maturational divergence during adolescence accounts for the higher prevalence of specific chronic pains and mood disorders in females.
外向性和神经质会影响行为和情绪。这些人格特质的极端表现可能使个体易患主要影响女性的慢性功能性疼痛和情绪障碍。我们获取了健康男性和女性青少年的解剖学磁共振成像扫描和人格得分，并测量了灰质体积（GMV）和皮质厚度，以检验以下假设：在社会和生物成熟的关键时期，神经质和外向性会导致额-边缘皮质发育的性别差异。在女性中，外向性与内侧前额叶回GMV呈负相关，神经质与膝下前扣带回皮质GMV和皮质厚度呈正相关。有趣的是，男性GMV与人格之间的相关性表现出相反的效应。鉴于这些皮质区域与社会认知和情绪加工有关，我们认为青春期的神经成熟差异导致了女性中特定慢性疼痛和情绪障碍的较高患病率。
