P300 and personality: an investigation with the Cloninger's model.

The relationships between P300 and personality have been explored mainly in reference to the model of personality described by Eysenck because of its biological bases. Recently, Cloninger and his colleagues have proposed a model of personality based on four temperaments and three characters. The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) is a 226-item self-questionnaire developed to assess these seven dimensions of personality. In the present study, the relationships between these dimensions of personality and P300 have been investigated in 43 normal subjects. The results show that P300 amplitude is positively correlated with the novelty seeking dimension and negatively correlated with the harm avoidance dimension. In contrast, the other dimensions of the TCI were not related to P300 amplitude. Moreover, P300 latency and reaction time were not associated with the TCI dimensions of personality. This study confirms that personality is related to P300.