Abstract
The emotion of anxiety represents one of the most studied topics in the neurosciences, in part due to its relevance for understanding the evolutionary development of the human brain and its role in the pathogenesis of psychopathological conditions. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) has enabled mapping of the anxious human brain and has contributed substantially to the understanding of anxiety. Alongside the fields of clinical psychology/psychiatry, personality psychology aims to support the research endeavor of mapping the anxious brain and has found that individual differences in anxiety-related personality dimensions such as Neuroticism or Harm Avoidance (measured by self-report) are correlated with gray and white matter volumes in different areas of the human brain. This review reveals that structures including parts of the frontal cortex (e.g., the orbitofrontal cortex) and the temporal lobe (e.g., the hippocampus) are often associated with trait anxiety, and it points out the inconsistencies that exist in the personality-sMRI literature on human anxiety. Consequently, we suggest new research strategies to overcome the inconsistencies. This review outlines how results from animal research can guide scientists in developing testable hypotheses in search of the anxious brain. Moreover, genetic imaging is presented as an interesting approach to mapping the anxious brain.
About the authors
Christian Montag (PhD) is a biologically oriented personality psychologist. In the framework of his PhD thesis, he tested the revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory by Gray and McNaughton (2000) with neuroscientific procedures. He currently works on several studies in the field of affective neuroscience. His general research interests range from molecular genetics and brain imaging of personality to addiction research.
Martin Reuter is a biologically oriented personality psychologist (PhD, 2001). Since 2006, Martin Reuter has been a professor of personality and biological psychology at the University of Bonn, Germany. He is also the vice director of the Center for Economics and Neuroscience at the University of Bonn. His research interests range from classical personality psychology to neuroeconomics. However, his main research focus is on the molecular genetic basis of individual differences.
Magdalena Jurkiewicz received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Biological Sciences in 2004 from The University of Chicago. She received her Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in Chronic Disease Epidemiology from Yale University in 2007. She is currently a fellow in the Medical Scientist Training Program at the State University of New York, Stony Brook working toward a dual MD/PhD degree. Her research interests include gene-environment interactions and neurogenetics in relation to stress and anxiety.
Sebastian Markett received his MSc (dipl. psych.) in psychology in 2009 and earned his PhD in 2012 from the University of Bonn, Germany. In his work, he combines neuroimaging, molecular genetics, and techniques from experimental psychology to study individual differences in human cognition and personality. His main interest lies in how the cognitive system/the brain regulates itself to produce flexible and goal-directed behavior, i.e., executive cognitive abilities subsumed within the working memory framework.
Jaak Panksepp is the Baily Endowed Chair of Animal Well-Being Science at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, and Emeritus Distinguished Research Professor of Psychobiology at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. His work has been devoted to understanding the nature of primary-process emotional systems as a foundation for the next generation of biological psychiatry and consciousness as well as personality studies.
©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
