Loading...
Personality traits such as novelty seeking and reward dependence (i.e., relying on social approval and persisting in behaviors that were previously rewarded) have been linked to polymorphisms on the dopamine receptor gene. In this imaging study, investigators in Germany used diffusion tractography (an MRI technique that reveals the “strength” of white-matter tracts, which is determined by factors such as number, myelination, and density of fibers) to visualize striatal circuits in 20 healthy adults who had completed a personality trait questionnaire that is typically used in genetic studies.
High self-reported novelty seeking was associated with stronger connections in a circuit from the hippocampus and the amygdala to the ventral and medial…