Temperament and Character Correlates of Neuropsychological Performance

Abstract

We investigate the association between temperament and character dimensions, on the one hand, and computerised neuropsychological test performance, on the other hand. Temperament and character dimensions were operationalised as scores on the subscales of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), a 240-item measure that is based on the psychobiological theory of personality. Neuropsychological outcomes were measured on six computerised tests of executive functioning and abstract reasoning from the University of Pennsylvania Computerised Neuropsychological Test Battery (PennCNP). The executive and abstract reasoning tasks included a test of Motor Praxis (MPRAXIS), the Penn Abstraction, Inhibition and Working Memory Task (AIM), the Letter-N-Back (LNB2), the Penn Conditional Exclusion Task (PCET), the Penn Short Logical Reasoning Task (SPVRT) and the Short Raven's Progressive Matrices (SRAVEN). Results from this exploratory study yielded significant associations between neuropsychological performance and temperament and character traits. The temperament traits of Harm Avoidance and Reward Dependence were positively correlated with reaction time on the AIM and the SPVRT. The character dimension of Self-Transcendence was significantly associated with performance accuracy on the AIM and the temperament dimension of Novelty Seeking was inversely related to performance accuracy on the LNB2. These results confirm the importance of addressing the temperament and character correlates of neuropsychological performance in both clinical and non-clinical studies.

Keywords

character executive functioning neuropsychology personality psychobiological theory temperament

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alverez

J. A.

Emory

(2006). Executive functioning and the frontal lobes: A meta-analytic review. Neuropsychology Review, 16, 17–42.

Ardila

(2005). Cultural values underlying cognitive test performance. Neuropsychology Review, 15, 185–195.

Ardila

Rosselli

Matute

Guajardo

(2005). The influence of parents' educational level on the development of executive functions. Developmental Neuropsychology, 28, 539–560.

Barkley

R. A.

(1997). ADHD and the nature of self control. New York: Guilford.

Bivona

Ciurli

Barba

Onder

Azicnuda

Silvestro

Mangano

Rigon

Formisano

(2008). Executive functioning and metacognitive self-awareness after severe traumatic brain injury. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 14, 862–868.

Bergvall

A. H.

Nilsson

Hansen

(2003). Exploring the link between character, personality disorder and neuropsychological function. European Psychiatry, 18, 334–344.

Black

D. W.

Forbush

K. T.

Langer

Shaw

Graeber

M. A.

Moser

D. J.

Bayless

Watson

Hovick

Meyer

V. J.

Blue

(2009). The neuropsychology of borderline personality disorder: A preliminary study on the predictive variance of neuropsychology tests vs personality trait dimensions [Electronic version]. Personality and Mental Health, Doi: 10.1002/pmh. 63.

Boeker

Klieser

Lehman

Jaenke

Bogerts

Northoff

(2006). Executive dysfunction, self and ego pathology in schizophrenia: An exploratory study of neuropsychology and personality. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 47, 7–19.

Braga

L. W.

(2007). Developmental perspectives: Culture and neuropsychological development during childhood. In Uzzell

Ponton

Ardila

(Eds), International Handbook of Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology, (pp. 145–161). London: Lawrence Erlbaum.

10.

Byrd

Sanchez

Manly

(2005). Neuropsychological test performance among Caribbean-born and US-born African-American elderly: The role of age, education and reading level. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 27, 1056–1069.

11.

Carver

C. S.

Miller

C. J.

(2006). Relations of serotonin function to personality: Current views and a key methodological issue. Psychiatry Research, 144, 1–15.

12.

Cloniger

C. R.

Gilligan

S. B.

(1987). Neurogenic mechanisms of learning: A phylogenetic perspective. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 21, 457–472.

13.

Cloninger

C. R.

Przybeck

T. R.

Svrakic

D. M.

Wetzel

R. D.

(1994). The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI): a guide to its development and use. St. Louis, Missouri: Center for Psychobiology of Personality.

14.

Cloninger

C. R.

Svrakic

N. M.

(1997). Integrative psychobiological approach to psychiatric assessment and treatment. Psychiatry, 60, 120–141.

15.

Cloninger

C. R.

Svrakic

D. M.

Przybeck

T. R.

(1993). A psychobiological model of temperament and character. Archives of General Psychiatry, 50, 975–990.

16.

Cloninger

C. R.

Svrakic

D. M.

Przybeck

T. R.

(2006). Can personality assessment predict future depression? A twelve-month follow-up of 631 subjects. Journal of Affective Disorders, 92, 35–44.

17.

Cheung

A. M.

Mitsis

E. M.

Halperin

J. M.

(2004). The relationship of behavioural inhibition to executive functions in adults. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 26, 393–404.

18.

De Bruin

Derksen

Cilliers-Hartslief

(2005). Predictive validity of general intelligence and Big Five measures for adult basic education and training outcomes. South African Journal of Psychology, 35, 46–57.

19.

Eisenberg

(2002). Emotion-related regulation and its relation to quality of social functioning. In Hartup

W. W.

Weiberg

R. A.

(Eds), Child psychology in retrospect and prospect, (pp. 133–171). Erlbaum: New Jersey.

20.

Frank

M. J.

Santamaria

O'Reilly

R. C.

Willcutt

(2007). Testing Computational Models of Dopamine and Noradrenaline Dysfunction in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Neuropsychopharmacology, 32, 1583–1599.

21.

Goel

(2007). Anatomy of deductive reasoning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11, 435–441.

22.

Gur

R. C.

Gur

R. E.

Obrist

W. D.

Skolnick

B. E.

Reivich

(1987). Age and regional cerebral blood flow at rest and during cognitive activity. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 617–621.

23.

Gur

Ragland

Moberg

P. J.

Turner

T. H.

Bilker

W. B.

Kohler

Siegel

S. J.

Gur

R. E.

(2001). Computerized Neurocognitive Scanning: Methodology and validation in healthy people. Neuropsychopharmacology, 25, 766–776.

24.

Henderson

H. A.

Wachs

T. D.

(2007). Temperament theory and the study of cognition-emotion interactions across development. Developmental Review, 27, 396–427.

25.

Hoff

(2003). The specificity of environmental influence: Socioeconomic status affects early development via maternal speech. Child Development, 74, 1368–1378.

26.

Hooper

C. J.

Luciana

Wahlstrom

Conklin

H. M.

Yarger

R. S.

(2008). Personality correlates of the Iowa Gambling Task performance in healthy adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 598–609.

27.

Hsieh

S. H. J.

Tori

C. D.

(2007). Normative data on cross-cultural neuropsychological tests obtained from Mandarin-speaking adults across the life span. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 22, 283–296.

28.

Keilp

J. G.

Sackeim

H. A.

Mann

J. J.

(2005). Correlates of trait impulsiveness in performance measures and neuropsychological tests. Psychiatry Research, 135, 191–201.

29.

Kim

Y. H.

M. H.

S. Y.

Park

S. H.

Kim

K. W.

(2006). Effects of single-dose methylphenidate on cognitive performance in patients with traumatic brain injury: A double-blind placebo-controlled study. Clinical Rehabilitation, 20, 24–30.

30.

Kurtz

M. M.

Ragland

J. D.

Moberg

P. J.

Gur

R. C.

(2004). The Penn Conditional Exclusion Test: A new measure of executive-function with alternate forms for repeat administration. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 19, 191–201.

31.

Kurtz

M. M.

Wexler

B. E.

Bell

M. D.

(2004). The Penn Conditional Exclusion Test (PCET): Relationship to the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and work function in patients with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 68, 95–102.

32.

Lochner

Hemmings

Seedat

Kinnear

Schoeman

Annerbrink

Olsson

Erikson

Moolman-Smook

Allgulander

Stein

D. J.

(2007). Genetics and personality traits in patients with social anxiety disorder: A case-control study in South Africa. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 17, 321–327.

33.

Mardaga

Hansenne

(2007). Relationships between Cloninger's biosocial model of personality and the behavioural inhibition/approach systems (BIS/BAS). Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 715–722.

34.

McNamara

Durso

Harris

(2008). Alterations of the self and personality in Parkinson's disease. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23, 79–84.

35.

Minzenberg

M. J.

Carter

C. S.

(2008). Modafinil: A Review of Neurochemical Actions and Effects on Cognition. Neuropsychopharmacology, 33, 1477–1502.

36.

Nell

(2007). Environmentalists and Nativists: The IQ Controversy in Cross-Cultural Perspective. In Uzzell

Ponton

Ardila

(Eds), International Handbook of Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology, (pp. 63–92). London: Lawrence Erlbaum.

37.

Oades

R. D.

Röpcke

Henning

Klimke

(2005). Neuropsychological measures of attention and memory function in schizophrenia: Relationships with symptom dimensions and serum monoamine activity. Behavioural and Brain Functions, 1, 1–16.

38.

O'Gorman

R. L.

Kumasi

Williams

S. C. R.

Zelaya

F. O.

Connor

S. E. J.

Alsop

D. C.

Gray

J. A.

(2006). Personality factors correlate with regional cerebral perfusion. NeuroImage, 31, 489–495.

39.

Peirson

A. R.

Heuchert

J. W.

(2001). The relationship between personality and mood: Comparison of the BDI and TCI. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 391–399.

40.

PennCNP. The University of Pennsylvania Computerized Neuropsychological Test Battery. http://www.penncnp.med.upenn.edu.

41.

Raven

J. C.

(1960). Guide to the standard progressive matrices. London: H.K. Lewis.

42.

Robinson

M. D.

Tamir

(2005). Neuroticism as mental noise: A relation between neuroticism and reaction time standard deviations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 107–114.

43.

Robinson

M. D.

Wilkowski

B. M.

(2006). Unstable in more ways than one: Reaction time variability and the neuroticism/Distress relationship. Journal of Personality, 74, 311–343.

44.

Robinson

M. D.

Wilkowski

B. M.

Meier

B. P.

(2006). Unstable in more ways than one: Reaction time variability and the neuroticism/distress relationship. Journal of Personality, 74, 314–343.

45.

Rosselli

Ardila

(2003). The impact of culture and education on non-verbal neuropsychological measurements: A critical review. Brain and Cognition, 52, 326–333.

46.

Shuttleworth-Edwards

A. B.

Kemp

R. D.

Rust

A. L.

Muirhead

J. G. L.

Hartman

N. P.

Radloff

S. E.

(2004). Cross-cultural effects on IQ test performance: A review and preliminary normative indications on the WAIS-III test performance. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 26, 903–920.

47.

Sugarman

(2002). Evolution and executive functions: Why our toolboxes are empty. Revista Española de Neuropsicologia, 4, 351–377.

48.

Tome

M. B.

Cloninger

C. R.

Watson

J. P.

Isaac

M. T.

(1997). Serotonergic autoreceptor blockade in the reduction of antidepressant latency: Personality variables and response to paroxetine and pindolol. Journal of Affective Disorders, 44, 101–109.

49.

Uzzell

(2007). Grasping the Cross-Cultural Reality. In Uzzell

Ponton

Ardila

(Eds), International Handbook of Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology, (pp. 1–22). London: Lawrence Erlbaum.

50.

Wendelken

Nakhabenko

Donohue

S. E.

Carter

C. S.

Bunge

(2008). Brain is to Thought as Stomach is to…?: Investigating the Role of Rostrolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Relational Reasoning. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20, 682–693.

51.

Whitney

Jameson

Hinson

J. M.

(2004). Impulsiveness and executive control of working memory. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 417–428.

52.

Whittle

Allen

N. B.

Lubman

D. I.

Yücel

(2006). The neurobiological basis of temperament: Towards a better understanding of psychopathology. Neuroscience and Behavioural Reviews, 30, 511–525.