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Experimental brain research
May, 2024;242 (5): 1061-1069.

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

Song Xue, Alain De Beuckelaer, Feng Kong, Jia Liu
Author Information
  1. Song Xue: School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210094, China. xues@njnu.edu.cn.
  2. Alain De Beuckelaer: Institute for Management Research, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
  3. Feng Kong: School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xian, China.
  4. Jia Liu: Department of Psychology and Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
PMID: 38472448 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-024-06809-8

Abstract

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.

Keywords

ALFF Emotional intelligence Insula vmPFC

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Grants

  1. 31800915/National Natural Science Foundation of China
  2. 2019M651880/China Postdoctoral Science Foundation

MeSH Term

Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Female
Young Adult
Emotional Intelligence
Rest
Brain Mapping
Adult
Brain
Emotions
Adolescent
Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Word Cloud

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