Personality and complex brain networks: The role of openness to experience in default network efficiency

Abstract

The brain's default network (DN) has been a topic of considerable empirical interest. In fMRI research, DN activity is associated with spontaneous and self-generated cognition, such as mind-wandering, episodic memory retrieval, future thinking, mental simulation, theory of mind reasoning, and creative cognition. Despite large literatures on developmental and disease-related influences on the DN, surprisingly little is known about the factors that impact normal variation in DN functioning. Using structural equation modeling and graph theoretical analysis of resting-state fMRI data, we provide evidence that Openness to Experience-a normally distributed personality trait reflecting a tendency to engage in imaginative, creative, and abstract cognitive processes-underlies efficiency of information processing within the DN. Across two studies, Openness predicted the global efficiency of a functional network comprised of DN nodes and corresponding edges. In Study 2, Openness remained a robust predictor-even after controlling for intelligence, age, gender, and other personality variables-explaining 18% of the variance in DN functioning. These findings point to a biological basis of Openness to Experience, and suggest that normally distributed personality traits affect the intrinsic architecture of large-scale brain systems. Hum Brain Mapp 37:773-779, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: default mode network; individual differences; network science; personality; structural equation modeling.

Figure 1

Graph analysis of DN efficiency and its relation to Openness to Experience. A: Group‐level depiction of nodes and edges used to define the DN. B: Scatterplot showing the relation between latent Openness/Intellect and DN global efficiency, controlling for age and gender. C: Scatterplot showing the relation between latent Openness to Experience and DN global efficiency, controlling for age, gender, intelligence, and other personality factors. Note: All variables were standardized by Z‐transformation. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

Figure 2

SEM from Study 2 showing effects of the latent personality variables on DN efficiency. All paths are standardized coefficients. A: Agreeableness; C: Conscientiousness; DN: Default Network; E: Extraversion; N: Neuroticism (emotional stability); O: Openness to Experience.