Individual differences in trait anxiety are associated with white matter tract integrity in the left temporal lobe in healthy males but not females

The temporal lobe plays a major role in anxiety and depression disorders and is also of importance for trait anxiety in the non-pathological range. The present study investigates self-report data of personality dimensions linked to trait anxiety in the context of white matter tract integrity in the temporal lobes of the human brain in a large sample of N = 110 healthy participants. The results show that especially in men values for fractional anisotropy of several white matter tracts in the temporal lobe of the left hemisphere correlate substantially with individual differences in trait anxiety (depending on the tract investigated between .40 and .49). The present study shows that not only data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), but also from structural diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) provide interesting insights into the biological foundation of human personality traits.

► The present study investigates trait anxiety by means of DTI.
► The study links white matter integrity of the temporal lobe to trait anxiety in humans.
► The association between FA values and anxiety can be observed in males only.