Personality
is known to influence cognitive and affective functioning as well as the risk
of psychiatric disorders. Exploration of the neurobiological correlates of
personality traits has the potential to enhance understanding of their
significance in development of related psychopathological states. The authors examined
the association between individual differences in neuroticism and brain
activity in response to threat of electric shocks. The observations
support recent psychophysiological research that has demonstrated reduced
processing of pain in subjects with higher levels of neuroticism, especially the
anxiety component of this trait.