Personality is reflected in brain morphometry

To fully characterize the relationship between structure and function as it relates to personality measures, techniques are needed that can distinguish among the different structural compartments of the gray and white matter contributing to the measures of size (cortical thickness and volume). By using structural neuroimaging techniques, such as region of interest (ROI)- and voxel-based morphometry (VBM), several studies addressed the associations between personality factors and morphometric measures that allowed characterizing the subtle brain structural differences in relation to different temperamental traits. To address brain-trait relationships, global measures, as total intracranial volume, total brain volume, total gray or white matter volumes, as well as regional measures, as gray or white matter volumes of specific brain areas have been investigated in relation to the specific dimensions of personality. Understanding anatomic variations as they relate to personality traits may help putting the functional findings in context and pave the way for studying micro-structural influences on personality.