Novelty seeking and harm avoidance are two major temperamental dimensions from the Cloninger's biosocial model of personality that are theoretically related to Gray's behavioral approach system (BAS) and behavioral inhibition system (BIS), respectively. The revised version of the temperament and character inventory (TCI-R) and the Carver and White BIS/BAS scales were developed to assess these constructs. Despite the theoretical relationships between the two models, no study investigated the associations between these scales. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the relationships between the TCI-R and the BIS/BAS scales. A total of 150 healthy participants (75 females) completed the BIS/BAS scales and the TCI-R. Results showed that harm avoidance and reward dependence were good predictors of BIS, whereas persistence and novelty seeking were good predictors of BAS, when age and gender were controlled. This study supports the theoretical links between BIS and harm avoidance, and between BAS and novelty seeking, and extends these links to other Cloninger's dimension.

Contradictory findings exist concerning the inhibitory function of low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Therefore, the study examines the impact of different duration of low frequency rTMS on ERPs. In 17 subjects, auditory ERPs were measured before and after 1 Hz rTMS delivered over the left prefrontal cortex during l0min (600 pulses) and 15min (900 pulses). Results showed that 15 min of 1 Hz rTMS induced a significant increase of P300 latency. There was no effect for early ERP components (N100, P200 and N200). This study confirms and extends that 1 Hz rTMS produces a real inhibitory effect only when the duration of the stimulation is about 15 min. The data suggest that rTMS modifies the speed of cognitive processing rather than the energetical aspect of information processing, and that cortical inhibition induced by the magnetic stimulation affects principally the controlled cognitive processes and not the automatic ones.

For several years now, the somatic aspect of emotions has been regarded as a major factor in the decision-making process. A large body of literature has investigated this issue, within the somatic marker hypothesis perspective, using the classical Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Many studies reported an influence of clinical and differential factors, including personality, on IGT performance. On the other hand, personality appears to modulate the emotional responses as a function of valence (i.e., responses to rewards vs. punishments). The present study investigated whether the influence of personality on the decision-making process might be mediated by differential emotional responsiveness. Skin conductance levels were recorded in 32 subjects while performing the IGT. The results showed that novelty seeking (NS) modulated the skin conductance responses to feedback, and both NS and harm avoidance (HA) influenced anticipative response development. We also found that NS tended to modulate the final score, beyond the influence of beneficial anticipative autonomic responses. The present data partially support the hypothesis that personality-related differential emotional responsiveness may modulate somatic marker development in a decision-making situation. On the other hand, personality influence on the performance was not entirely explained by these emotional differences.

Several studies found strong relationships between main personality dimensions and emotions, and more particularly between neuroticism and negative emotions, as well as between extraversion and positive ones. In these studies, personality was mainly assessed with respect to the big five model, and emotions were evaluated with subjective rating scales. To extend the exploration of the associations between personality and emotion, the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationships between Cloninger's dimensions of personality and emotional reactivity assessed by skin conductance response (SCR). In 55 normal subjects, SCR was recorded while they were presented pictures selected as positive, negative and neutral from the International Affective Picture System. The results showed no influence of personality on response magnitude, but subjects with higher harm avoidance scores showed longer half-recovery times for negative relative to neutral pictures. This result is consistent with the dispositional bias of harm avoidance to respond intensely to signals of aversive stimuli.

SummaryStudy aim. -Affective symptoms are major descriptors of depression; therefore, a lot of studies investigated emotional-responsiveness modulation in depression, and reported either a potentiation of negative affects, a reduction of positive affects, or a reduction of both positive and negative affects. On the other hand, personality was classically found to be modulated in depression, with behavioral inhibition system (BIS)-related dimensions (namely harm avoidance (HA), neuroticism) showing higher scores in depressed subjects. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between emotional responsiveness (as measured by skin conductance response [SCR]) and personality in depression. Methods. -SCR was recorded following the presentation of neutral, pleasant, and unpleasant pictures in 20 depressed subjects and 20 controls. Results. -Pleasant pictures elicited more and larger responses than unpleasant ones in control but not in depressed subjects. This effect was not modulated by personality. Moreover, depressed subjects were found to show generally faster half-recovery times and to rate emotional pictures as less arousing than control subjects and these effects disappeared when BIS-related dimensions were controlled. MOTS CLÉSDépression ; Personnalité ; Émotions ; Réponse électrodermale Résumé Objectifs. -Les symptômes affectifs sont des descripteurs majeurs de l'épisode dépressif ; pour cette raison, un grand nombre de travaux ont étudié les modulations de la réactivité émotion-nelle dans la dépression. Ils rapportent une potentialisation des affects négatifs, une diminution des affects positifs ou une réduction à la fois des affects positifs et négatifs. Par ailleurs, la personnalité est classiquement modulée dans la dépression, de sorte que les scores aux dimensions associées au système d'inhibition comportementale (SIC) (i.e. évitement du danger, neuroticisme) sont plus élevés chez les sujets déprimés. Le but de notre étude était d'investiguer les relations entre la réactivité émotionnelle (mesurée par la réponse électrodermale [RED]) et la personnalité dans la dépression. Méthodes. -La RED a été enregistrée suite à la présentation d'images neutres, plaisantes et déplaisantes chez 20 sujets déprimés et 20 sujets contrôles. Résultats. -Les images plaisantes provoquent plus de réponses et des réponses plus amples que les images déplaisantes chez les sujets contrôles mais pas chez les déprimés. Cet effet n'est pas modulé par la personnalité. Par ailleurs, les sujets déprimés montrent des temps de récupération plus courts et jugent les images émotionnelles comme associées à un éveil émotionnel moindre que les sujets contrôles et ces effets disparaissent lorsque les dimensions associées au SIC sont contrôlées. Conclusions. -Ces résultats suggèrent que les dimensions associées au SIC sont indépendantes de la diminution sélective des réponses aux images plaisantes mais sont impliquées dans la réduction globale observée des affects.