Increased functional connectivity within mesocortical networks in open people L. Passamonti a, ⁎, A. Terracciano b , R. Riccelli c , G. Donzuso a , A. Cerasa a , MG. Vaccaro c , F. Novellino a , F. Fera c , A. Quattrone a,c a Institute of Bioimaging and Molecular Physiology, National Research Council, Catanzaro, Italy b Department of Geriatrics, Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL, USA c Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University “Magna Graecia”, Catanzaro, Italy abstract article info Article history: Accepted 7 September 2014 Available online xxxx Keywords: Personality traits Prefrontal cortex Olfaction Food Dopamine circuits resting-state Openness is a personality trait reflecting absorption in sensory experience, preference for novelty, and creativity, and is thus considered a driving force of human evolution. At the brain level, a relation between openness and dopaminergic circuits has been proposed, although evidence to support this hypothesis is lacking. Recent behav- ioral research has also found that people with mania, a psychopathological condition linked to dopaminergic dys- functions, may display high levels of openness. However, whether openness is related to dopaminergic circuits has not been determined thus far. We addressed this issue via three functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments in n = 46 healthy volunteers. In the first experiment participants lied at rest in the scanner while in the other two experiments they performed active tasks that included the presentation of pleasant odors and pictures of food. Individual differ- ences in openness and other personality traits were assessed via the NEO-PI-R questionnaire (NEO-Personality Inventory—Revised), a widely employed measure of the five-factor model personality traits. Correlation between fMRI and personality data was analyzed via state-of-art methods assessing resting-state and task-related func- tional connectivity within specific brain networks. Openness was positively associated with the functional connectivity between the right substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area, the major source of dopaminergic inputs in the brain, and the ipsilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a key region in encoding, maintaining, and updating information that is relevant for adaptive be- haviors. Of note, the same connectivity pattern was consistently found across all of the three fMRI experiments. Given the critical role of dopaminergic signal in gating information in DLPFC, the increased functional connectiv- ity within mesocortical networks in open people may explain why these individuals display a wide “mental per- meability” to salient stimuli and an increased absorption in sensory experience. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Introduction Openness is a personality trait reflecting a broad range of cognitive– affective styles such as absorption in sensory experience, preference for novel experiences, curiosity, and creativity (Mccrae and Costa, 1992). Open people are typically described as highly “permeable” and recep- tive to salient stimuli and strongly motivated to “enlarge” their sensory experience (McCrae and Costa, 1997; McCrae and Sutin, 2009). At the brain level, some authors have proposed that openness is associated with mesocortical networks (i.e., midbrain–prefrontal cortex (PFC) dopaminergic circuits) (DeYoung, 2013; DeYoung et al., 2005). This is because dopamine (DA) plays a key role in encoding, maintaining, and updating information relevant for adaptive behaviors and, more generally, in orienting attention towards salient stimuli (Ballard et al., 2011; D'Ardenne et al., 2012; Horvitz, 2000; Krebs et al., 2011; Ljungberg et al., 1992). The facilitating effect of DA on cognitive control is thought to be critically dependent on the D2- and D1-receptor families that are expressed on neurons and inter-neurons within the dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) and substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area (SN/VTA), the most important source of dopaminergic inputs in the brain (Durstewitz and Seamans, 2008; Goldman-Rakic et al., 1989). It is thus possible that the magnified cognitive flexibility and tendency to focus on salient information displayed by open people are driven by increased function of mesocortical networks; overall, this would result in a fluid style of reasoning that allows making novel asso- ciations between remotely connected ideas, a key element for creativity (McCrae and Sutin, 2009). However, evidence to support the relation between mesocortical circuits and openness is still minimal. One study found that the interac- tion between two polymorphisms in DA genes (i.e., the dopamine D4 NeuroImage xxx (2014) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding author at: National Research Council, Institute of Bioimaging and Molecular Physiology, Catanzaro 87100, Italy. E-mail address: luca.passamonti@cnr.it (L. Passamonti). YNIMG-11645; No. of pages: 9; 4C: 5, 7 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.09.017 1053-8119/© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect NeuroImage journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ynimg Please cite this article as: Passamonti, L., et al., Increased functional connectivity within mesocortical networks in open people, NeuroImage (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.09.017