Mean diffusivity associated with trait emotional intelligence

Hikaru Takeuchi; Yasuyuki Taki; Rui Nouchi; Ryoichi Yokoyama; Yuka Kotozaki; Seishu Nakagawa; Atsushi Sekiguchi; Kunio Iizuka; Yuki Yamamoto; Sugiko Hanawa; Tsuyoshi Araki; Carlos Makoto Miyauchi; Kohei Sakaki; Yuko Sassa; Takayuki Nozawa; Shigeyuki Ikeda; Susumu Yokota; Magistro Daniele; Ryuta Kawashima

doi:10.1093/scan/nsz059

Mean diffusivity associated with trait emotional intelligence

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2019 Aug 31;14(8):871-883. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsz059.

Authors

Hikaru Takeuchi¹, Yasuyuki Taki^{2

3}, Rui Nouchi^{4

5

6}, Ryoichi Yokoyama⁷, Yuka Kotozaki⁸, Seishu Nakagawa^{9

10}, Atsushi Sekiguchi¹¹, Kunio Iizuka¹², Yuki Yamamoto⁹, Sugiko Hanawa⁹, Tsuyoshi Araki¹³, Carlos Makoto Miyauchi¹⁴, Kohei Sakaki⁶, Yuko Sassa¹, Takayuki Nozawa¹⁵, Shigeyuki Ikeda¹⁶, Susumu Yokota¹, Magistro Daniele^{15

16

17}, Ryuta Kawashima^{1

6

14}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
² Division of Medical Neuroimaging Analysis, Department of Community Medical Supports, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
³ Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
⁴ Creative Interdisciplinary Research Division, Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
⁵ Human and Social Response Research Division, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
⁶ Advanced Brain Science, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
⁷ School of Medicine, Kobe University, Kobe 650-0017, Japan.
⁸ Division of Clinical Research, Medical-Industry Translational Research Center, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima 960-1925, Japan.
⁹ Department of Human Brain Science, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
¹⁰ Division of Psychiatry, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Sendai 983-8536, Japan.
¹¹ Department of Behavioral Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo 187-8553, Japan.
¹² Department of Psychiatry, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
¹³ Advantage Risk Management Co., Ltd, Tokyo 153-0051, Japan.
¹⁴ Department of Language Sciences, Graduate School of Humanities, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan.
¹⁵ Research Center for the Earth Inclusive Sensing Empathizing with Silent Voices, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan.
¹⁶ Department of Ubiquitous Sensing, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.
¹⁷ Department of Sport Science, School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK, NG11 8NS.

Abstract

Previous neuroimaging studies have suggested that the neural bases of trait emotional intelligence (TEI) lie in the social cognition network (SCN) and the somatic marker circuitry (SMC). The current study was the first to investigate the associations of total TEI factors and subfactors with mean diffusivity (MD) of these networks as well as regional MD of the dopaminergic system (MDDS). We found that TEI intrapersonal factor score and total TEI score were negatively correlated with regional MDDS in the vicinity of the right putamen and right pallidum and that TEI intrapersonal factor score was negatively correlated with MD values of the fusiform gyrus. Total TEI score and TEI factor scores were positively correlated with MD values of various areas within or adjacent to SCN components, SMC structures and the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC). Our MD findings demonstrated the importance of the dopaminergic system to TEI and implicate the SCN, SMC and LPFC in TEI. Future studies are required to investigate the implications of positive and negative associations with MD values.

Keywords: diffusion tensor imaging; dopaminergic system; emotional intelligence; mean diffusivity; social cognition; somatic marker circuitry.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Brain
Cognition
Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / psychology*
Emotional Intelligence / physiology*
Female
Humans
Male
Neuroimaging
Prefrontal Cortex / physiology
Putamen
Social Behavior