Neuroticism and extraversion moderate neural responses and effective connectivity during appetitive conditioning

Classical appetitive conditioning constitutes a basic learning process through which environmental stimuli can be associated with reward. Previous studies showed that individual differences in neuroticism and extraversion influence emotional processing and have been shown to modulate neural activity in subcortical and prefrontal areas in response to emotional stimuli. However, the role of individual differences in appetitive conditioning has so far not been investigated in detail. The aim of this study was to assess the association between neuroticism and extraversion with neural activity and connectivity during appetitive conditioning. The conditioned stimulus (CS) was either a picture of a dish or a cup. One stimulus (CS+) was paired with a monetary reward and the other stimulus (CS-) was associated with its absence while hemodynamic activity was measured by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging. A significant negative correlation of neuroticism scores with amygdala activity was observed during appetitive conditioning. Further, extraversion was positively associated with responses in the hippocampus and the thalamus. In addition, effective connectivity between the amygdala as a seed region and the anterior cingulate cortex, the insula, and the thalamus was negatively correlated with neuroticism scores and positively correlated with extraversion scores. The results may indicate a neural correlate for the deficits in appetitive learning in subjects with high neuroticism scores and point to a facilitating effect of extraversion on reward-related learning. Hum Brain Mapp 37:2992-3002, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.