Kim Hakin, Park Junhyun, Kuhn Manuel, Kim M Justin, Hur Juyoen
Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea.
Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, 02478, USA.
Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 16;15(1):13095. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-97529-8.
Neuroticism (NT) is a fundamental personality trait and a major risk factor for both the onset and persistence of depression and anxiety disorders. Although NT involves alterations in emotion-cognition interaction, its precise neural mechanism remains insufficiently understood. Leveraging the word-face Stroop task, we examined neural circuits engaged during emotional conflict using a relatively large sample that exhibited a wide range of NT levels. Generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analyses revealed that individuals with high NT were characterized by decreased functional connectivity between the anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC) and both the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the left amygdala. None of these regions showed modulated brain activation by NT. Our findings suggest that the neural substrates of NT can be better characterized by reduced top-down aMCC-amygdala regulation as well as inefficient communication within the dorsal cognitive system (aMCC-dlPFC), rather than changes in brain activation in isolated regions. These observations offer valuable insights into the neural markers of vulnerability to mood and anxiety disorders.
神经质（NT）是一种基本的人格特质，也是抑郁症和焦虑症发病及持续存在的主要风险因素。尽管神经质涉及情绪-认知交互的改变，但其确切的神经机制仍未得到充分理解。利用单词-面孔斯特鲁普任务，我们使用了一个表现出广泛神经质水平的相对大样本，研究了情绪冲突期间参与的神经回路。广义心理生理交互作用（gPPI）分析显示，高神经质个体的特征是前扣带回中部皮质（aMCC）与左侧背外侧前额叶皮质（dlPFC）和左侧杏仁核之间的功能连接减少。这些区域均未显示出神经质对大脑激活的调节作用。我们的研究结果表明，神经质的神经基础可以通过自上而下的aMCC-杏仁核调节减少以及背侧认知系统（aMCC-dlPFC）内低效的通信来更好地描述，而不是孤立区域的大脑激活变化。这些观察结果为易患情绪和焦虑症的神经标志物提供了有价值的见解。
