This could be a very interesting thing. Has anyone done fMRI scans to detect the differences between the 16 types - not just the E/I scale?
"Turhan Canli, PhD, a psychologist from Stanford University, and colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure the relation between brain responses to emotional stimuli — pictures. While in a fMRI scanner, 14 healthy 19- to 42-year-old women's brain reactions to pictures containing negative images (crying or angry people, spiders, guns, or a cemetery) or positive images (happy couple, puppies, foods like ice cream or brownies, or sunsets) that provoked strong emotional reactions were determined. A personality measure was also used to help the researchers determine the participants' level of extraversion — the tendency to be optimistic and sociable — and their level of neuroticism — the tendency to be anxious, worried, and socially insecure.
The fMRI results show that the women who scored high on extraversion also had greater brain reactivity to positive stimuli compared with negative stimuli than did those women who scored low on extraversion. The associations between extraversion and neural activity in response to positive images were observable in several areas of the brain that control emotion, including the frontal cortex, amygdala, and anterior cingulate.
For the women who scored low on extraversion, no brain reactivity to positive stimuli was found. But those who scored high on the neuroticism measures had more brain reactions to negative stimuli, but in fewer parts of the brain that control emotions..."
EDIT: personally I do not think it is valid to assume that introversion is a symptom of a mental disorder such as neuroticism - but then I am not a researcher at Stanford...
"Turhan Canli, PhD, a psychologist from Stanford University, and colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure the relation between brain responses to emotional stimuli — pictures. While in a fMRI scanner, 14 healthy 19- to 42-year-old women's brain reactions to pictures containing negative images (crying or angry people, spiders, guns, or a cemetery) or positive images (happy couple, puppies, foods like ice cream or brownies, or sunsets) that provoked strong emotional reactions were determined. A personality measure was also used to help the researchers determine the participants' level of extraversion — the tendency to be optimistic and sociable — and their level of neuroticism — the tendency to be anxious, worried, and socially insecure.
The fMRI results show that the women who scored high on extraversion also had greater brain reactivity to positive stimuli compared with negative stimuli than did those women who scored low on extraversion. The associations between extraversion and neural activity in response to positive images were observable in several areas of the brain that control emotion, including the frontal cortex, amygdala, and anterior cingulate.
For the women who scored low on extraversion, no brain reactivity to positive stimuli was found. But those who scored high on the neuroticism measures had more brain reactions to negative stimuli, but in fewer parts of the brain that control emotions..."
EDIT: personally I do not think it is valid to assume that introversion is a symptom of a mental disorder such as neuroticism - but then I am not a researcher at Stanford...
