Neuroticism modulates neural activities of posterior cingulate cortex and thalamus during psychosocial stress processing

Objective: Individuals with higher neuroticism are vulnerable to stress and are prone to develop depression, however, the neural mechanisms underlying it have not been clarified clearly. Method: The Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST) was administered to 148 healthy adults during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Whole-brain voxel-wise regression analyses were used to detect associations of neuroticism with neural activity involved in perceiving and processing psychosocial stress. In addition, two-sample t-tests were conducted between the high-neurotic and low-neurotic group in order to supplement the results found in regression analyses. Results: Higher neuroticism scores were associated with higher activities in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)/precuneus and thalamus (p < 0.05, false discovery rate correction). Moreover, two sample t-tests also revealed that the high-neurotic group had higher neural stress responses in precuneus and bilateral thalamus in comparison to the low-neurotic group (p < 0.05, false discovery rate correction). Limitations: Our study mainly recruited young adults, which may limit the generalizability of our findings. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the crucial role of PCC/precuneus and thalamus in the association between neuroticism and stress and may provide insight into the cognitive model of depression.