The correlation between emotional intelligence and gray matter volume in university students

Studying the social mind: An updated summary of findings from the Vietnam Head Injury Study

Lesion mapping studies allow us to evaluate the potential causal contribution of specific brain areas to human cognition and complement other cognitive neuroscience methods, as several authors have recently pointed out. Here, we present an updated summary of the findings from the Vietnam Head Injury Study (VHIS) focusing on the studies conducted over the last decade, that examined the social mind and its intricate neural and cognitive underpinnings. The VHIS is a prospective, long-term follow-up study of Vietnam veterans with penetrating traumatic brain injury (pTBI) and healthy controls (HC). The scope of the work is to present the studies from the latest phases (3 and 4) of the VHIS, 70 studies since 2011, when the Raymont et al. paper was published (Raymont et al., 2011). These studies have contributed to our understanding of human social cognition, including political and religious beliefs, theory of mind, but also executive functions, intelligence, and personality. This work finally discusses the usefulness of lesion mapping as an approach to understanding the functions of the human brain from basic science and clinical perspectives.

Dissociable neural correlates of trait and ability emotional intelligence: a resting-state fMRI study

Emotional intelligence (EI) is one's ability to monitor one's own and other's emotions and the use of emotional information to enhance thought and action. Previous behavioral studies have shown that EI is separable into trait EI and ability EI, which are known to have distinct characteristics at the behavioral level. A relevant and unanswered question is whether both forms of EI have a dissociable neural basis. Previous studies have individually explored the neural underpinnings of trait EI and ability EI, but there has been no direct comparison of the neural mechanisms underlying these two types of emotional intelligence. The present study addresses this question by using resting-state fMRI to examine the correlational pattern between the regional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) of the brain and individuals' trait EI and ability EI scores. We found that trait EI scores were positively correlated with the ALFF in the bilateral superior temporal gyrus, and negatively correlated with the ALFF in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex. In contrast, ability EI scores were positively correlated with the ALFF in the insula. Taken together, these results provide preliminary evidence of dissociable neural substrates between trait EI and ability EI.

Increased functional integration of emotional control network in late adulthood

Across the adult lifespan, there are changes in how emotions are perceived and regulated. As individuals age, there is an observed improvement in emotion regulation and overall quicker recovery from negative emotions. While previous studies have shown differences in emotion processing in late adulthood, the corresponding differences in large-scale brain networks remain largely underexplored. By utilizing large-scale datasets such as the Human Connectome Project (HCP-Aging, N = 621 ) and Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN, N = 333 ), we were able to investigate how emotion regulation networks' functional topography differs across the entire adult lifespan. Based on previous meta-analytic work that identified four large-scale functional brain networks involved in emotion generation and regulation, we found an increase in the functional integration of the emotional control network among older adults. Additionally, confirming through the nonlinear model, individuals around the age of 70 showed a steadier decline in integration of a network mediating emotion generation and regulation via interoception. Furthermore, the analyses revealed a negative association between age and perceived stress and loneliness that could be attributed to differences in large-scale emotion regulation networks. Our study highlights the importance of identifying topological changes in the functional emotion network architecture across the lifespan, as it allows for a better understanding of emotional aging and psychological well-being in late adulthood.

Reduced GM-WM concentration inside the Default Mode Network in individuals with high emotional intelligence and low anxiety: a data fusion mCCA+jICA approach

The concept of emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to recognize and regulate emotions to appropriately guide cognition and behaviour. Unfortunately, studies on the neural bases of EI are scant, and no study so far has exhaustively investigated grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) contributions to it. To fill this gap, we analysed trait measure of EI and structural MRI data from 128 healthy participants to shed new light on where and how EI is encoded in the brain. In addition, we explored the relationship between the neural substrates of trait EI and trait anxiety. A data fusion unsupervised machine learning approach (mCCA + jICA) was used to decompose the brain into covarying GM-WM networks and to assess their association with trait-EI. Results showed that high levels trait-EI are associated with decrease in GM-WM concentration in a network spanning from frontal to parietal and temporal regions, among which insula, cingulate, parahippocampal gyrus, cuneus and precuneus. Interestingly, we also found that the higher the GM-WM concentration in the same network, the higher the trait anxiety. These findings encouragingly highlight the neural substrates of trait EI and their relationship with anxiety. The network is discussed considering its overlaps with the Default Mode Network.

Neural correlates of social interaction anxiety and their relation to emotional intelligence: A resting-state fMRI study

Social interaction anxiety refers to a state of anxiety resulting from the prospect or presence of interpersonal evaluation in real or imagined social settings. Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed neural basis of social anxiety disorder. However, little is known about the neural correlates of individual differences in social interaction anxiety in nonclinical population. In the present study, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the relationship between individual's spontaneous neural activity and social interaction anxiety, and the role that emotional intelligence played in the relationship. To this end, the correlation between the regional fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) of the brain and individuals' social interaction anxiety scores was examined. We found that social interaction anxiety was correlated with the fALFF in the insula, parahippocampal gyrus, bilateral superior temporal gyrus, and superior parietal lobule. Furthermore, we also found that emotional intelligence partially mediated the association between the fALFF in these regions and social interaction anxiety. Taken together, our study provided the first evidence for the spontaneous neural basis of social interaction anxiety in normal population, and highlighted the neural substrates through which emotional intelligence might play an important role in social interaction anxiety.

Emotional intelligence mediates the protective role of the orbitofrontal cortex spontaneous activity measured by fALFF against depressive and anxious symptoms in late adolescence

As a stable personality construct, trait emotional intelligence (TEI) refers to a battery of perceived emotion-related skills that make individuals behave effectively to adapt to the environment and maintain well-being. Abundant evidence has consistently shown that TEI is important for the outcomes of many mental health issues, particularly depression and anxiety. However, the neural substrates involved in TEI and the underlying neurobehavioral mechanism of how TEI reduces depression and anxiety symptoms remain largely unknown. Herein, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and a group of behavioral measures were applied to examine these questions among a large sample comprising 231 general adolescent students aged 16-20 years (52% female). Whole-brain correlation analysis and prediction analysis demonstrated that TEI was negatively linked with spontaneous activity (measured with the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations) in the bilateral medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), a critical site implicated in emotion-related processes. Furthermore, structural equation modeling analysis found that TEI mediated the link of OFC spontaneous activity to depressive and anxious symptoms. Collectively, the current findings present new evidence for the neurofunctional bases of TEI and suggest a potential "brain-personality-symptom" pathway for alleviating depressive and anxious symptoms among students in late adolescence.

Emotional Intelligence Not Only Can Make Us Feel Negative, but Can Provide Cognitive Resources to Regulate It Effectively: An fMRI Study

Neuroscientists have formulated the model of emotional intelligence (EI) based on brain imaging findings of individual differences in EI. The main objective of our study was to operationalize the advantage of high EI individuals in emotional information processing and regulation both at behavioral and neural levels of investigation. We used a self-report measure and a cognitive reappraisal task to demonstrate the role of EI in emotional perception and regulation. Participants saw pictures with negative or neutral captions and shifted (reappraised) from negative context to neutral while we registered brain activation. Behavioral results showed that higher EI participants reported more unpleasant emotions. The Utilization of emotions scores negatively correlated with the valence ratings and the subjective difficulty of reappraisal. In the negative condition, we found activation in hippocampus (HC), parahippocampal gyrus, cingulate cortex, insula and superior temporal lobe. In the neutral context, we found elevated activation in vision-related areas and HC. During reappraisal (negative-neutral) condition, we found activation in the medial frontal gyrus, temporal areas, vision-related regions and in cingulate gyrus. We conclude that higher EI is associated with intensive affective experiences even if emotions are unpleasant. Strong skills in utilizing emotions enable one not to repress negative feelings but to use them as source of information. High EI individuals use effective cognitive processes such as directing attention to relevant details; have advantages in allocation of cognitive resources, in conceptualization of emotional scenes and in building emotional memories; they use visual cues, imagination and executive functions to regulate negative emotions effectively.

Emotional intelligence mediates the association between middle temporal gyrus gray matter volume and social anxiety in late adolescence

As a common mental health problem, social anxiety refers to the fear and avoidance of interacting in social or performance situations, which plays a crucial role in many health and social problems. Although a growing body of studies has explored the neuroanatomical alterations related to social anxiety in clinical patients, far fewer have examined the association between social anxiety and brain morphology in the general population, which may help us understand the neural underpinnings of social anxiety more comprehensively. Here, utilizing a voxel-based morphometry approach via structural magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated brain gray matter correlates of social anxiety in 231 recent graduates of the same high school grade. We found that social anxiety was positively associated with gray matter volume in the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG), which is a core brain area for cognitive processing of emotions and feelings. Critically, emotional intelligence mediated the impact of right MTG volume on social anxiety. Notably, our results persisted even when controlling for the effects of general anxiety and depression. Altogether, our research reveals right MTG gray matter volume as a neurostructural correlate of social anxiety in a general sample of adolescents and suggests a potential indirect effect of emotional intelligence on the association between gray matter volume and social anxiety.

Multimodal prediction of trait emotional intelligence-Through affective changes measured using non-contact based physiological measures

Inability to efficiently deal with emotionally laden situations, often leads to poor interpersonal interactions. This adversely affects the individual's psychological functioning. A higher trait emotional intelligence (EI) is not only associated with psychological wellbeing, educational attainment, and job-related success, but also with willingness to seek professional and non-professional help for personal-emotional problems, depression and suicidal ideation. Thus, it is important to identify low (EI) individuals who are more prone to mental health problems than their high EI counterparts, and give them the appropriate EI training, which will aid in preventing the onset of various mood related disorders. Since people may be unaware of their level of EI/emotional skills or may tend to fake responses in self-report questionnaires in high stake situations, a system that assesses EI using physiological measures can prove affective. We present a multimodal method for detecting the level of trait Emotional intelligence using non-contact based autonomic sensors. To our knowledge, this is the first work to predict emotional intelligence level from physiological/autonomic (cardiac and respiratory) response patterns to emotions. Trait EI of 50 users was measured using Schutte Self Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT) along with their cardiovascular and respiratory data, which was recorded using FMCW radar sensor both at baseline and while viewing affective movie clips. We first examine relationships between users' Trait EI scores and autonomic response and reactivity to the clips. Our analysis suggests a significant relationship between EI and autonomic response and reactivity. We finally attempt binary EI level detection using linear SVM. We also attempt to classify each sub factor of EI, namely-perception of emotion, managing own emotions, managing other's emotions, and utilization of emotions. The proposed method achieves an EI classification accuracy of 84%, while accuracies ranging from 58 to 76% is achieved for recognition of the sub factors. This is the first step towards identifying EI of an individual purely through physiological responses. Limitation and future directions are discussed.

Effects of Kibbutz communal upbringing in adulthood: trait emotional intelligence and attachment patterns

Past research regarding the emotional characteristics of kibbutz children raised with communal sleeping arrangements (CSA) showed inconsistent findings for emotional difficulties, such as insecure attachment and lowered ability for intimacy. Only little research has examined these children's emotional characteristics in their adulthood. Trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) is a new concept measuring a constellation of correlated emotional traits that capture a person's typical way of processing emotional information and reacting to it. The present study examined if difficulties in intimacy and trait EI characterize adults who had been raised in CSA kibbutzim (Hebrew plural of kibbutz). Participants comprised 1185 adults, aged 30-79, of whom 735 were raised in CSA kibbutzim, and the rest did not grow up in a Kibbutz at all. The participants completed three self-report questionnaires: Schutte's Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT) to measure trait EI; the Revised Adult Attachment Scale to measure adult attachment; and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Questionnaire to measure self-esteem. Results showed that most of the kibbutz CSA participants revealed levels of intimacy and trait EI comparable to the non-kibbutz group. However, a significant difference was found among adults with low self-esteem and poor attachment quality: For these participants, trait EI and intimacy were significantly lower for the CSA kibbutz group than for the non-kibbutz group. Furthermore, the CSA kibbutz group reported poorer non-verbal communication skills than the non-kibbutz group. We suggest that a minority of the CSA kibbutz children were less resilient to the kibbutz ecology. These children might have been more vulnerable to the effects of limited social options, decreased parental support, and the kibbutz education's ideological demands. For these children, the effects of communal upbringing on intimacy and attachment appear to be long-lasting, extending throughout their adulthood.

The Positive Brain - Resting State Functional Connectivity in Highly Vital and Flourishing Individuals

The World Health Organization has defined health as “complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (World Health Organization, 1948). An increasing number of studies have therefore started to investigate “the good life.” However, the underlying variation in brain activity has rarely been examined. The goal of this study was to assess differences in resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) between regular healthy individuals and healthy individuals with a high occurrence of flourishing and subjective vitality. Together, flourishing, a broad measure of psycho-social functioning and subjective vitality, an organismic marker of subjective well-being comprise the phenomenological opposite of a major depressive disorder. Out of a group of 43 participants, 20 high-flourishing (highFl) and 18 high-vital (highSV) individuals underwent a 7-min resting state period, where cortical activity in posterior brain areas was assessed using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Network-based statistics (NBS) of FC yielded significantly different FC patterns for the highFl and highSV individuals compared to their healthy comparison group. The networks converged at areas of the posterior default mode network and differed in hub nodes in the left middle temporal/fusiform gyrus (flourishing) and the left primary/secondary somatosensory cortex (subjective vitality). The attained networks are discussed with regard to recent neuroscientific findings for other well-being measures and potential mechanisms of action based on social information processing and body-related self-perception.

Neurobiological correlates of emotional intelligence in voice and face perception networks

Facial expressions and voice modulations are among the most important communicational signals to convey emotional information. The ability to correctly interpret this information is highly relevant for successful social interaction and represents an integral component of emotional competencies that have been conceptualized under the term emotional intelligence. Here, we investigated the relationship of emotional intelligence as measured with the Salovey-Caruso-Emotional-Intelligence-Test (MSCEIT) with cerebral voice and face processing using functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging. MSCEIT scores were positively correlated with increased voice-sensitivity and gray matter volume of the insula accompanied by voice-sensitivity enhanced connectivity between the insula and the temporal voice area, indicating generally increased salience of voices. Conversely, in the face processing system, higher MSCEIT scores were associated with decreased face-sensitivity and gray matter volume of the fusiform face area. Taken together, these findings point to an alteration in the balance of cerebral voice and face processing systems in the form of an attenuated face-vs-voice bias as one potential factor underpinning emotional intelligence.

Examining Brain Structures Associated With Emotional Intelligence and the Mediated Effect on Trait Creativity in Young Adults

Little is known about the association between emotional intelligence (EI) and trait creativity (TC), and the brain structural bases which involves. This study investigated the neuroanatomical basis of the association between EI and TC which measured by the Schutte self-report EI scale and the Williams creativity aptitude test. First, the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis was used to explore the brain structures which is closely related to EI in a large young sample (n = 213). The results showed that EI was positively correlated with the regional gray matter volume (rGMV) in the right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), which is regarded as a key region of emotional processing. More importantly, further mediation analysis revealed that rGMV in the right OFC partially mediated the association between EI and TC, which showed the OFC volume could account for the relationship between EI and TC. These findings confirmed the close relationship between EI and TC, and highlighted that the brain volumetric variation in the OFC associated with the top-down processing of emotion regulation, which may play a critical role in the promotion of TC. Together, these findings contributed to sharpening the understanding of the complex relationship between EI and TC from the perspective of brain structural basis.

Psychosocial stress affects the acquisition of cerebellar-dependent sensorimotor adaptation

Despite being overlooked in theoretical models of stress-related disorders, differences in cerebellar structure and function are consistently reported in studies of individuals exposed to current and early-life stressors. However, the mediating processes through which stress impacts upon cerebellar function are currently unknown. The aim of the current experiment was to test the effects of experimentally-induced acute stress on cerebellar functioning, using a classic, forward saccadic adaptation paradigm in healthy, young men and women. Stress induction was achieved by employing the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST), a task employing mental arithmetic and negative social feedback to generate significant physiological and endocrine stress responses. Saccadic adaptation was elicited using the double-step target paradigm. In the experiment, 48 participants matched for gender and age were exposed to either a stress (n = 25) or a control (n = 23) condition. Saliva for cortisol analysis was collected before, immediately after, and 10, and 30 min after the MIST. Saccadic adaptation was assessed approximately 10 min after stress induction, when cortisol levels peaked. Participants in the stress group reported significantly more stress symptoms and exhibited greater total cortisol output compared to controls. The stress manipulation was associated with slower learning rates in the stress group, while control participants acquired adaptation faster. Learning rates were negatively associated with cortisol output and mood disturbance. Results suggest that experimentally-induced stress slowed acquisition of cerebellar-dependent saccadic adaptation, related to increases in cortisol output. These 'proof-of-principle' data demonstrate that stress modulates cerebellar-related functions.

'Emotional Intelligence': Lessons from Lesions

'Emotional intelligence' (EI) is one of the most highly used psychological terms in popular nomenclature, yet its construct, divergent, and predictive validities are contentiously debated. Despite this debate, the EI construct is composed of a set of emotional abilities - recognizing emotional states in the self and others, using emotions to guide thought and behavior, understanding how emotions shape behavior, and emotion regulation - that undoubtedly influence important social and personal outcomes. In this review, evidence from human lesion studies is reviewed in order to provide insight into the necessary brain regions for each of these core emotional abilities. Critically, we consider how this neuropsychological evidence might help to guide efforts to define and measure EI.

Developments in Trait Emotional Intelligence Research

Trait emotional intelligence (“trait EI”) concerns our perceptions of our emotional abilities, that is, how good we believe we are in terms of understanding, regulating, and expressing emotions in order to adapt to our environment and maintain well-being. In this article, we present succinct summaries of selected findings from research on (a) the location of trait EI in personality factor space, (b) the biological underpinnings of the construct, (c) indicative applications in the areas of clinical, health, social, educational, organizational, and developmental psychology, and (d) trait EI training. Findings to date suggest that individual differences in trait EI are a consistent predictor of human behavior across the life span.

Highways of the emotional intellect: white matter microstructural correlates of an ability-based measure of emotional intelligence

Individuals differ in their ability to understand emotional information and apply that understanding to make decisions and solve problems effectively - a construct known as Emotional Intelligence (EI). While considerable evidence supports the importance of EI in social and occupational functioning, the neural underpinnings of this capacity are relatively unexplored. We used Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) to determine the white matter correlates of EI as measured by the ability-based Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Participants included 32 healthy adults (16 men; 16 women), aged 18-45 years. White matter integrity in key tracts was positively correlated with the Strategic Area branches of the MSCEIT (Understanding Emotions and Managing Emotions), but not the Experiential branches (Perceiving and Facilitating Emotions). Specifically, the Understanding Emotions branch was associated with greater fractional anisotropy (FA) within somatosensory and sensory-motor fiber bundles, particularly those of the left superior longitudinal fasciculus and corticospinal tract. Managing Emotions was associated with greater FA within frontal-affective association tracts including the anterior forceps and right uncinate fasciculus, along with frontal-parietal cingulum and interhemispheric corpus callosum tracts. These findings suggest that specific components of EI are directly related to the structural microarchitecture of major axonal pathways.

Increased Grey Matter Associated with Long-Term Sahaja Yoga Meditation: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study

OBJECTIVES

To investigate regional differences in grey matter volume associated with the practice of Sahaja Yoga Meditation.

DESIGN

Twenty three experienced practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation and twenty three non-meditators matched on age, gender and education level, were scanned using structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging and their grey matter volume were compared using Voxel-Based Morphometry.

RESULTS

Grey matter volume was larger in meditators relative to non-meditators across the whole brain. In addition, grey matter volume was larger in several predominantly right hemispheric regions: in insula, ventromedial orbitofrontal cortex, inferior temporal and parietal cortices as well as in left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and left insula. No areas with larger grey matter volume were found in non-meditators relative to meditators.

CONCLUSIONS

The study shows that long-term practice of Sahaja Yoga Meditation is associated with larger grey matter volume overall, and with regional enlargement in several right hemispheric cortical and subcortical brain regions that are associated with sustained attention, self-control, compassion and interoceptive perception. The increased grey matter volume in these attention and self-control mediating regions suggests use-dependent enlargement with regular practice of this meditation.

Emotional Intelligence and Mental Health: Stress and Symptom Reporting Pathways

This study examines the pathways through which mood perception affects perceived stress and symptom reporting among undergraduate students. It examines depression, anxiety, positive affect, and negative affect as mediators between a) emotional intelligence (EI) and b) perceived stress and symptom reporting. Results indicated that on the EI measure used in this study, the Trait Meta-mood Scale (TMMS) subscales, Attention was not related to perceived stress or symptom reporting. Mood Repair and Clarity were significantly and inversely related to perceived stress and symptom reporting. Anxiety and depression were the primary mediators in these relationships.

Lesion Mapping the Four-Factor Structure of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to an individual’s ability to process and respond to emotions, including recognizing the expression of emotions in others, using emotions to enhance thought and decision making, and regulating emotions to drive effective behaviors. Despite their importance for goal-directed social behavior, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying specific facets of EI. Here, we report findings from a study investigating the neural bases of these specific components for EI in a sample of 130 combat veterans with penetrating traumatic brain injury. We examined the neural mechanisms underlying experiential (perceiving and using emotional information) and strategic (understanding and managing emotions) facets of EI. Factor scores were submitted to voxel-based lesion symptom mapping to elucidate their neural substrates. The results indicate that two facets of EI (perceiving and managing emotions) engage common and distinctive neural systems, with shared dependence on the social knowledge network, and selective engagement of the orbitofrontal and parietal cortex for strategic aspects of emotional information processing. The observed pattern of findings suggests that sub-facets of experiential and strategic EI can be characterized as separable but related processes that depend upon a core network of brain structures within frontal, temporal and parietal cortex.