Identifying the Core Components of Emotional Intelligence: Evidence from Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations during Resting State

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a multi-faceted construct consisting of our ability to perceive, monitor, regulate and use emotions. Despite much attention being paid to the neural substrates of EI, little is known of the spontaneous brain activity associated with EI during resting state. We used resting-state fMRI to investigate the association between the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFFs) and EI in a large sample of young, healthy adults. We found that EI was significantly associated with ALFFs in key nodes of two networks: the social emotional processing network (the fusiform gyrus, right superior orbital frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus and left inferior parietal lobule) and the cognitive control network (the bilateral pre-SMA, cerebellum and right precuneus). These findings suggest that the neural correlates of EI involve several brain regions in two crucial networks, which reflect the core components of EI: emotion perception and emotional control.