Attention and emotion influence the relationship between extraversion and neural response.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Extraversion correlates with reward system activation, particularly the ventral striatum and amygdala.
• These brain regions are involved in emotional responses, influenced by attentional focus.
• The interplay between extraversion, emotion, and attention in neural responses remains unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the interaction of extraversion, emotion, and attention on neural activity.
• To examine how attentional focus modulates the relationship between extraversion and brain responses to emotional stimuli.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in a sample of 28 women.
• Participants watched evocative film clips eliciting amusement and sadness.
• Two conditions were employed: natural responding versus attending to and rating emotions.

Main Results:

• Striatal response to amusement was negatively associated with extraversion, irrespective of attentional focus.
• Striatal response to sadness was negatively associated with extraversion, but only when participants attended to their emotions.
• Contrary to hypotheses, attention modulated the extraversion-neural response link for negative, but not positive, stimuli.

Conclusions:

• Attentional focus does not alter the relationship between extraversion and neural responses to positive (amusing) stimuli.
• Attentional focus significantly impacts the relationship between extraversion and neural responses to negative (sad) stimuli.
• These findings highlight the nuanced role of attention in moderating personality trait effects on emotion processing in the brain.