Emotional intelligence correlates with functional responses to dynamic changes in facial trustworthiness

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Social Cognition

Background:

• Emotional intelligence (EI) involves understanding and managing emotions.
• Neurobiological underpinnings of EI are not fully understood.
• Potential brain regions include vmPFC, ACC, insula, and amygdala.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between EI and brain activity.
• To examine neural responses to dynamic facial trustworthiness cues.
• To differentiate between EI ability and trait models.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 39 healthy adults.
• Correlated EI scores (Bar-On EQ-i, MSCEIT) with brain responses.
• Presented dynamic facial expressions varying in trustworthiness.

Main Results:

• Core emotion neurocircuitry responded to facial changes.
• MSCEIT scores positively correlated with vmPFC and rostral ACC activity for decreasing trustworthiness.
• Bar-On EQ-i scores showed no significant correlation with regional activation.

Conclusions:

• EI ability is linked to specific neural responses in emotion-related brain regions.
• vmPFC and rostral ACC responsiveness may reflect EI's role in social perception.
• Ability-based EI measures show stronger neural correlates than trait-based measures.