Significant correlation between openness personality in normal subjects and brain myelin mapping with T1/T2-weighted MR imaging

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between the myelination and the psychological trait of openness to experience in young cognitively normal volunteers using regional T1-weighted (T1w)/T2w ratios on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It was hypothesized that axonal myelination would be related to openness, thus linking trait creativity and mental illness. METHODS: We recruited 37 healthy subjects and administered the NEO Five-Factor Inventory to assess personality factors. Regional T1w/T2w MRI values were computed as surrogate indicators of myelination status and correlations between T1w/T2w values and various personality factors (e.g., trait of openness) were calculated with a voxel-based analysis using statistical parametric mapping. RESULTS: Significant negative correlations were identified between the trait of openness and T1w/T2w values in the medial frontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and posterior insula/adjacent putamen. These relationships remained significant even after adjusting for age, sex, and education as covariates. There were no significant correlations between other personality factors and regional volumes. CONCLUSIONS: Individual differences in openness may be associated with variations in intra-cortical myelination, specifically in the imaginative network of the brain including the midline core ‘hubs’ of the default mode network (anterior cingulate/medial frontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex) and regions related to motivational state (posterior insula and adjacent putamen). Signal interference related to decreased myelination may facilitate flexible imagination and the trait of openness. Our findings assist in understanding the relationship between myelination and openness, as a link between creativity and mental illness.