The Association Between Local Brain Structure and Disgust Propensity

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2022 Jan 26

PMID 35079079

Authors

Albert Wabnegger

Carina Schlintl

Anne Schienle

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Research has discovered structural differences in the brains of people with different personality types. In the present voxel-based morphometry study we focused on the association between disgust propensity (DP: the temporally stable tendency to experience disgust across different situations) and grey matter volume (GMV) in regions of interest [insula, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), basal ganglia]. We collected structural brain scans from 498 healthy individuals (352 females, 146 males; mean age = 27 years). Regression analyses were performed to test the association between three domains of DP (core, animal-reminder, contamination) and GMV. We observed negative correlations between animal-reminder DP and the volume of the insula, and contamination DP and OFC volume. Animal-reminder DP correlated positively with GMV in the basal ganglia (putamen). This study identified weak correlations between local brain volume and disgust propensity. The association between DP and insula volume concerned the posterior insula and was in the opposite of the expected direction. The findings of this study are inconsistent with the concept of the anterior insula as a region that specifically mediates DP.

Citing Articles

Hypoactive Visual Cortex, Prefrontal Cortex and Insula during Self-Face Recognition in Adults with First-Episode Major Depressive Disorder.

Fan Z, Liu Z, Yang J, Yang J, Sun F, Tang S Biomedicines. 2023; 11(8).

PMID: 37626697 PMC: 10452386. DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11082200.

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