Personality Is Reflected In The Brain's Intrinsic Functional Architecture Source Evaluation

“Personality is Reflected in the Brain’s Intrinsic Functional Architecture:” Source Evaluation
The article “Personality is Reflected in the Brain’s Intrinsic Functional Architecture” was published in 2011, in the 11th Issue of the 6th Volume of PLOS ONE. PLOS ONE is the world’s first multidisciplinary Open Access journal. By accepting research regardless of the subject area, PLOS ONE aids in establishing connections between research disciplines. The journal’s process of rigorous peer review ensures that each published study is technically sound. It was published online on November 30, 2011. The article was written by Jonathan S. Adelstein, a clinical instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine. Adelstein studied

Psychobiology and English Literature at Swarthmore College.

He obtained his MD from New York University. He has worked on seven other studies concerning applications of brain architecture. The study was conducted in order to describe “how personality traits are reflected in the brain’s function architecture.” Thus, Adelstein’s primary purpose for writing the journal article was to expand the base of knowledge about the connections between the brain and personality.
The source is current, accurate, and relevant to my research. By describing personality through the establishment of concrete links to the brain, the study attempts to uncover the ways that personality is encoded in the brain. Since it was published in November of 2011, the source is current, making it more credible. The study’s accuracy is proven in several ways. First, the process of peer review employed by PLOS ONE ensures that the journal is error-free. Secondly, the study utilized resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) analyses, which have been used in other studies. RSFC patterns have been successfully

related to inter-individual differences in trait measures (such as social competence, risk taking, working memory, aggression, and cognitive efficiency). Thirdly, the study analyzed past research and then expanded the previous findings. For example, other studies suggested that the brain circuits revealed by analyses of RSFC represent intrinsically organized functional brain networks. The study then employed RSFC to identify intrinsic functional networks associated with each of the five personality domains. Lastly, the study supports other sources by directly citing other studies while bringing new research to the field. For example, the article cited previous studies that formed the basis of the knowledge that was utilized in the current study. The study relates to my research question. It provides basic research on personality that lays the foundation of my knowledge about the topic. Furthermore, it directly connects personality to the brain, and it reinforces the five main domains of personality (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness). Lastly, it focuses on the ways that personality can vary from person to person, as evident in different brain structures and functions.
The study investigated the way that personality traits are reflected in the brain’s architecture. The researchers used resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) to study neural correlation to the five-factor personality domains. Based on seed regions placed in two cognitive “hubs” in the brain (the anterior cingulate and precuneus), each domain of personality predicted RSFC with a unique pattern of brain regions. The patterns corresponded with functional subdivisions responsible for cognitive and affective processing. The study revealed that neuroticism predicted connectivity between seed regions and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, while extraversion predicted connectivity between seed regions and the paralimbic regions. These areas are typically associated with emotional regulation, self-evaluation, and reward, which are consistent with the trait qualities. Personality traits were mostly associated with functional connections that were inconsistently present across all participants. The researchers concluded that a fundamental, core functional architecture is preserved across all individuals, while connections outside of that core encompass the inter-individual differences in personality.