Association between neuroticism and amygdala responsivity emerges under stressful conditions

Increased amygdala reactivity in response to salient stimuli is seen in patients with affective disorders, in healthy subjects at risk for these disorders, and in stressed individuals, making it a prime target for mechanistic studies into the pathophysiology of affective disorders. However, whereas individual differences in neuroticism are thought to modulate the effect of stress on mental health, the mechanistic link between stress, neuroticism and amygdala responsivity is unknown.