Fiber connectivity between the striatum and cortical and subcortical regions is associated with temperaments in Chinese males

The seven-factor biopsychosocial model of personality distinguished four biologically based temperaments and three psychosocially based characters. Previous studies have suggested that the four temperaments-novelty seeking (NS), reward dependence (RD), harm avoidance (HA), and persistence (P)-have their respective neurobiological correlates, especially in the striatum-connected subcortical and cortical networks. However, few studies have investigated their neurobiological basis in the form of fiber connectivity between brain regions. This study correlated temperaments with fiber connectivity between the striatum and subcortical and cortical hub regions in a sample of 50 Chinese adult males. Generally consistent with our hypotheses, results showed that: (1) NS was positively correlated with fiber connectivity from the medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC, lOFC) and amygdala to the striatum; (2) RD was positively correlated with fiber connectivity from the mOFC, posterior cingulate cortex/retrosplenial cortex (PCC), hippocampus, and amygdala to the striatum; (3) HA was positively linked to fiber connectivity from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and PCC to the striatum; and (4) P was positively linked to fiber connectivity from the mOFC to the striatum. These results extended the research on the neurobiological basis of temperaments by identifying their anatomical fiber connectivity correlates within the subcortical-cortical neural networks.