The Functional Anatomy of Personality Trait Knowledge: An fMRI Study

Overview

This study will identify the regions of the brain that are involved in personality trait knowledge-that is, what a person knows about aspects of personality such as "generous," "honest," and others. It will also examine brain areas relating to a person's knowledge of how likeable those personality traits are, being familiar with the traits, and the degree of associating such traits with one's self. There has not been any previous study, through modern imaging techniques, on the location of the brain and the concepts of personality traits. Patients ages 21 to 65 who are in good health, are right handed, and native speakers of English may be eligible for this study. Pregnant women are not eligible. There will be 200 participants involved in pencil-and-paper or computer tasks. Also, there will be three functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments with 32 participants. Patients may participate in up to three fMRI experiments. Patients will be recruited through NIH's Normal Control Database. They would need to have had a neuroexamination conducted by an NIH doctor within the last year. Patients will be interviewed for any medical, neurological, or psychological condition that would make it difficult to read the fMRI results. Depending on the studies that patients take part in, they will have different questionnaires to complete. They may also perform a computerized test that measures word associations. These tests will take about 1 to 2 hours. The technique of MRI uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to obtain images of body organs and tissues. During the initial MRI scan, patients will lie still on a table that will slide into the enclosed tunnel of the scanner. They will be in the scanner not longer than 2 hours. During the procedure, they may be asked to lie as still as possible for up to 1 hour at a time. As the scanner takes pictures, patients will hear knocking or beeping sounds, and they will wear earplugs to reduce the noise. Patients will be able to communicate with the MRI staff at all times during the scan, and they may ask to be moved out of the machine at any time. Then the functional MRI (fMRI) scan will involve taking pictures of the brain while patients are performing tasks. All the tasks will be explained, and patients will have the chance to practice them before entering the scanner. For this activity, patients will be asked to make decisions about what they are seeing in the tasks presented to them. They will decide "yes" and "no" by pressing a left or right button. This scan will take about 1 hour. Afterward, patients may be asked to fill out written questionnaires or to perform reaction time tasks by using a computer. This study will not have a direct benefit for participants. However, it is hoped that information gained will enhance researchers' understanding about which areas of the brain are necessary to perform certain tasks.