Adrián Ventura, JesúsCostumero, VíctorParcet, Maria-AntòniaÁvila, César2023-01-242023-01-242019Adrián-Ventura J, Costumero V, Parcet MA, Ávila C. Linking personality and brain anatomy: a structural MRI approach to reinforcement sensitivity theory. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 2019 Mar;14(3):329-38. DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsz0111749-5016http://hdl.handle.net/10230/55404Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) proposes a widely used taxonomy of human personality linked to individual differences at both behavioral and neuropsychological levels that describe a predisposition to psychopathology. However, the body of RST research was based on animal findings, and little is known about their anatomical correspondence in humans. Here we set out to investigate MRI structural correlates (i.e. voxel-based morphometry) of the main personality dimensions proposed by the RST in a group of 400 healthy young adults who completed the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ). Sensitivity to punishment scores correlated positively with the gray matter volume in the amygdala, whereas sensitivity to reward scores correlated negatively with the volume in the left lateral and medial prefrontal cortex. Moreover, a negative relationship was found between the striatal volume and the reward sensitivity trait, but only for male participants. The present results support the neuropsychological basis of the RST by linking punishment and reward sensitivity to anatomical differences in limbic and frontostriatal regions, respectively. These results are interpreted based on previous literature related to externalizing and internalizing disorders, and they highlight the possible role of SPSRQ as a measure of proneness to these disorders.application/pdfeng© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.cominfo:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsz011PersonalityVoxel-based morphometryLimbic systemFrontostriatal circuitPsychopathological predispositioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess