The 'Big Five' personality traits have been linked to the wrinkles in your brain

Understanding how neurotic people's brains work could lead to better treatments for anxiety in the future.

 

"The first large-scale study has found a link between the 'Big Five' personality traits – neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness – and the fine-scale structure of the brain.

 

The folded outer layer of the brain – the cortex – relates to different personality traits depending on how thick and folded or wrinkly it is, and its overall area in particular regions of the brain, according to the study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.

 

Several of the personality traits were linked to varying degrees of wrinkliness and thickness in the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain that sits right behind the forehead.

 

People who were very neurotic, for example, had a thicker and less wrinkly cortex in parts of the prefrontal region. People who are very open, however, showed a thinner and wrinklier cortex in another part of the prefrontal region. Very conscientious people had a thicker and less wrinkly cortex across the prefrontal regions.

 

Very extroverted people had a thicker cortex in the precuneus area, towards the back of the brain, and smaller overall area in the superior temporal cortex, which sits in a lobe to the side of the brain.

 

People who were very agreeable had a thinner prefrontal cortex and a smaller overall area in the fusiform gyrus region, which sits towards the base of the brain."

 

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/big-five-personality-traits-have-been-linked-wrinkles-your-brain-1602766

 

 

 

OMG, hysterical, best job ever!  I had to Google to make sure this wasn't tongue in cheek.  It's for real, University of Cambridge no less! 

 

"Linking how brain structure is related to basic personality traits is a crucial step to improving our understanding of the link between the brain morphology and particular mood, cognitive, or behavioural disorders. 

    Luca Passamonti"

 

"In a study published today in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, an international team of researchers from the UK, US, and Italy have analysed a brain imaging dataset from over 500 individuals that has been made publicly available by the Human Connectome Project, a major US initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health. In particular, the researchers looked at differences in the brain cortical anatomy (the structure of the outer layer of the brain) as indexed by three measures – the thickness, area, and amount of folding in the cortex – and how these measures related to the Big Five personality traits."

 

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/personality-traits-linked-to-differences-in-brain-structure

It's not easy being a brain researcher. I loved Dr. Dan Fisher's take on it.....

 

Thanks for sharing, LF, he sounds like a good guy, will try and check out more of his videos.

 

PS - Did you check to see how thick and wrinkly your brain is?    Imagine spending all those years in school, getting a doctorate, etc, and then earning a living working on BS like this!  The world's gone crazy.

Thanks for sharing, LF, he sounds like a good guy, will try and check out more of his videos.

 

PS - Did you check to see how thick and wrinkly your brain is?    Imagine spending all those years in school, getting a doctorate, etc, and then earning a living working on BS like this!  The world's gone crazy.

 

So what happens if you are an occasionally agreeable occasionally conscientious half-neurotic who is also very open at times? Does the wrinkliness change over time? 

Hmmm, excellent question, LF, I'll spend some time pondering that one for sure.

Now here's one for you.  What happens if taking hot steamy baths smooths out some of the wrinkliness?  Does the personality change over time? 

Posted in International Business Times sort of cracks me up but NIH spending money on it wiped the smile off my face.  WBB

Well, technically, our pre-frontal cortex has taken a hit from these meds, so I don't really find this study very amusing. Whether the wrinkly part has any meaning or not. It may as well be that people with thicker pre-frontal cortexes are more  prone to thinking and planning, and too much thinking and planning can lead to worrying, which could lead to a lot of anxiety, which could lead to repeat benzo prescriptions, which leads to nowhere very fast 

I personally think they're all making such laughing-stocks of themselves, from start to finish, it's just ludicrous.  I honestly thought I'd mistakenly clicked to The Onion or one of those farcical tabloids. 

I feel a lot of ambivalence about it. Basically, they may be doing some useful research, but may not be really appreciating their findings and maybe missing some key stuff, with the overly reductionist explanations.

Hah, LF, I have to bow out of this one, we're just world's apart in our thinking.  Nothing useful about this at all, I'd punch so many holes in this "study", it would look like dog's breakfast.  It just seems like I'd be stating the obvious anyway, no challenge for me here.  LOL!

Understanding how neurotic people's brains work could lead to better treatments for anxiety in the future.

 

"The first large-scale study has found a link between the 'Big Five' personality traits – neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness – and the fine-scale structure of the brain.

 

The folded outer layer of the brain – the cortex – relates to different personality traits depending on how thick and folded or wrinkly it is, and its overall area in particular regions of the brain, according to the study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.

 

Several of the personality traits were linked to varying degrees of wrinkliness and thickness in the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain that sits right behind the forehead.

 

People who were very neurotic, for example, had a thicker and less wrinkly cortex in parts of the prefrontal region. People who are very open, however, showed a thinner and wrinklier cortex in another part of the prefrontal region. Very conscientious people had a thicker and less wrinkly cortex across the prefrontal regions.

 

Very extroverted people had a thicker cortex in the precuneus area, towards the back of the brain, and smaller overall area in the superior temporal cortex, which sits in a lobe to the side of the brain.

 

People who were very agreeable had a thinner prefrontal cortex and a smaller overall area in the fusiform gyrus region, which sits towards the base of the brain."

 

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/big-five-personality-traits-have-been-linked-wrinkles-your-brain-1602766

 

 

 

OMG, hysterical, best job ever!  I had to Google to make sure this wasn't tongue in cheek.  It's for real, University of Cambridge no less! 

 

"Linking how brain structure is related to basic personality traits is a crucial step to improving our understanding of the link between the brain morphology and particular mood, cognitive, or behavioural disorders. 

    Luca Passamonti"

 

"In a study published today in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, an international team of researchers from the UK, US, and Italy have analysed a brain imaging dataset from over 500 individuals that has been made publicly available by the Human Connectome Project, a major US initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health. In particular, the researchers looked at differences in the brain cortical anatomy (the structure of the outer layer of the brain) as indexed by three measures – the thickness, area, and amount of folding in the cortex – and how these measures related to the Big Five personality traits."

 

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/personality-traits-linked-to-differences-in-brain-structure

 

Too much!!!!!