Human personality reflects spatio-temporal and time-frequency EEG structure

Abstract

The brain controls all physiological processes in the organism and regulates its interaction with the external environment. The way the brain solves mental tasks is determined by individual human features, which are reflected in neuronal network dynamics, and therefore can be detected in neurophysiological data. Every human action is associated with a unique brain activity (motor-related, cognitive, etc.) represented by a specific oscillatory pattern in a multichannel electroencephalogram (EEG). The connection between neurophysiological processes and personal mental characteristics is manifested when using simple psycho-diagnostic tests (Schulte tables) in order to study the attention span. The analysis of spatio-temporal and time-frequency structures of the multichannel EEG using the Schulte tables allows us to divide subjects into three groups depending on their neural activity. The personality multi-factor profile of every participant can be individually described based on both the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) and a personal interview with an experienced psychologist. The correlation of the EEG-based personality classification with individual multi-factor profiles provides a possibility to identify human personality by analyzing electrical brain activity. The obtained results are of great interest for testing human personality and creating automatized intelligent programs that employ simple tests and EEG measurements for an objective estimation of human personality features.