A comprehensive review of studies using the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales in the psychological and psychiatric sciences

Does adult attachment mediate the relationship between primary emotion traits and eating disorder symptoms?

Objectives

Primary emotion traits and attachment patterns, have been linked to various mental disorders. This study aims to shed more light on the less studied relationship with eating disorder (ED) symptoms.

Methods

A total of 921 non-clinical subjects (69.9% females) were assessed for primary emotions traits (B-ANPS-GL), attachment insecurity (ECR-RD8), and eating disorder pathology (EDE-Q8). A theoretically derived model was evaluated by means of a path analysis with attachment anxiety as assumed mediator variable.

Results

Global problematic eating behavior showed negative correlations with the positive emotions PLAY, CARE, and LUST (r = -0.10 to -0.24), positive correlations with the negative primary emotions ANGER, FEAR, and SADNESS (r = 0.12-0.27), as well as with attachment anxiety (r = 0.22, all p < 0.01). Path analyses revealed direct effects between eating behavior pathology with LUST (β = -0.07 to -0.15) and FEAR (β = 0.12-0.19; all p < 0.05). The association of SADNESS and Weight (β = 0.05) and Shape Concern (β = 0.06, p < 0.001) was fully mediated by attachment anxiety. Overall, the path model explained 17% of the variance for attachment anxiety and 6% of the Restraint, 13% for Eating, 10% for Weight and 14% for Shape Concern Subscales.

Discussion

The findings shed light on the multifactorial relationship between affective traits, attachment security, and eating disorder pathology. In line with previous research, the results emphasize the role of attachment and affective functioning in ED symptoms.

Affective neuroscience: applications for sexual medicine research and clinical practice

INTRODUCTION

Affective neuroscience is the study of the brain substrates of emotional, embodied experiences. Affective neuroscience theory (ANT) is based on experimental evidence that all mammals are hardwired with 7 primary subcortical emotional operating systems, or "core emotions," that have overlapping but distinct circuits buried in the deep, ancient parts of the brain. Imbalances in the 7 core emotions can affect multiple aspects of the individual's psychosocial well-being (eg, depression, anxiety, substance abuse). Here, we propose that core emotions can also influence sexual function and, specifically, that imbalances in core emotions are the bridge connecting psychiatric symptoms (eg, anhedonia) to sexual dysfunction (eg, anorgasmia).

OBJECTIVES

In this targeted review and commentary, we outline potential connections between ANT and sexual medicine research and clinical practice. We summarize ANT by defining the 3-level BrainMind and core emotions; examining how they relate to personality, behavior, and mental health; and determining the implications for sexual health research and clinical practice.

METHODS

A targeted literature review was conducted. Case studies were adapted from client files and clinician interviews and then anonymized.

RESULTS

We propose a novel organizational schema for implementing affective balance therapies for sexual dysfunction, which integrate psychoeducational, somatic, and cognitive therapeutic approaches under the ANT framework. We provide 3 patient case studies (anorgasmia, hypersexuality, spinal cord injury) outlining the implementation of this approach and patient outcomes.

CONCLUSION

ANT has practical translational applications in sexual health research and clinical practice. By integrating our understanding of the role of core emotions in human sexuality, clinicians can better tailor treatments to address sexual dysfunction.

Primary emotional systems, childhood trauma, and suicidal ideation in youths with bipolar disorders

BACKGROUND

Bipolar disorders (BD) in youths are strongly associated with suicidal ideation. Childhood trauma is a prominent environmental stressor associated with both BD diagnosis and suicide. Primary emotional systems are altered in adult BD and may contribute to suicide risk in youths.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to investigate primary emotional systems distribution patterns and childhood trauma in youths' BD with and without suicidal ideation (BD-IS, BD-NIS).

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

We assessed 289 participants, 103 youths with DSM-5 BD and 186 healthy controls (HCs).

METHODS

Primary emotional systems were obtained with Panksepp's Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (ANPS), and history of childhood trauma using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Suicidal ideation was assessed through the Columbia Suicide Scale for the Rating of Suicide Severity (C-SSRS). The associations with suicidal ideation were tested using two different multivariate models.

RESULTS

Over 48 % of participants reported lifetime suicidal ideation and differed on clinical variables from BD-NIS. According to the first model (Wilk's Lambda = 0.72, p < 0.0001), BD-IS scored higher on Panksepp's ANGER and lower on PLAY and CARE than BD-NIS. Both BD-SI and BD-NSI scored higher on ANGER and SEEK and lower on PLAY and CARE than HCs. BD-IS reported more emotional abuse than BD-NIS. They also reported more emotional, sexual, and physical abuse, and emotional neglect than HCs. Only ANGER (OR = 1.13, 95 % CI = 1.01-1.26, Wald = 5.72) and CTQ-Emotional abuse (OR = 1.26, 95 % C.I. = 1.04-1.52, Wald = 5.72) independently predicted suicidal ideation.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings support the importance of assessing primary emotional systems and childhood trauma, in particular emotional abuse, in youths with BD at risk for suicide.

The German version of the brief affective neuroscience personality scales including a LUST scale (BANPS-GL)

Objectives

This study presents the German version of the Brief Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (BANPS), which includes an additional subscale for the dimension LUST. The BANPS represents a shortened version of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS), a self-report instrument to assess individual dispositions toward primary emotional systems as proposed by Jaak Panksepp.

Methods

In a large sample (N = 926), the reliability and various facets of validity of the German translation of the BANPS were examined together with the newly included LUST scale. The BANPS-GL was related to the Big Five Inventory (BFI) and Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale (SSSS) and analyzed via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Results

Overall, the BANPS-GL exhibited reliabilities ranging from McDonald's ω = 0.70 (CARE) to α = 0.86 (SADNESS) and plausible correlations with external criteria. For CFA a correlated 7-factor model demonstrated good fit [TLI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.04 (90% CI: 0.04, 0.05); SRMR = 0.06]. A similar fit was demonstrated for a 2-higher-factor model [TLI = 0.93; RMSEA = 0.05 (90% CI: 0.05, 0.06); SRMR = 0.07].

Conclusion

In broad agreement with the results of the original English version, the BANPS-GL showed good reliability and acceptable factorial validity, and overall improved the psychometric properties of the original long form. Finally, the inclusion of the dimension LUST allows for a complete coverage of the primary emotion dispositions as originally conceptualized by Panksepp.

The relationship between parenting behavior and the personality of kindergarten children

According to Cloninger's biosocial model of personality touching upon temperament and character, personality development is a lifelong adaptive process that begins in early childhood. Similarly, theories of parenting behavior and attachment predict that associations between personality and parenting behavior should be found in young children. The present study therefore had the goal to investigate, whether associations between parenting behavior and personality in terms of Cloninger's temperament and character dimensions previously found in adolescence and adults can already be observed in kindergarten children. This study assessed personality in a sample of 324 kindergarten children (169 girls/155 boys) aged 3-6 years (M _age = 4.59, SD = 0.90). Parents rated their children's temperament and character using the JTCI 3-6 R questionnaire, which has been specifically developed to measure personality dimensions in three to six-year-olds according to Cloninger's model. Character traits (especially Self-Transcendence), which reach mature levels in adults, may not be reliably assessed in three-year-old children. Parenting behavior was documented using the DEAPQ-EL-GS self-report questionnaire measuring the parenting behavior dimensions Responsiveness and Demandingness. Correlation analyses revealed that responsive parenting behavior was positively related to the personality dimensions Reward Dependence, Self-Directedness, and Self-Transcendence. Demanding parenting behavior was positively related to the personality dimension Novelty Seeking, but negatively related to the personality dimensions Persistence, Self-Directedness and Cooperativeness. Although the cross-sectional design of our study prevents unequivocal conclusions about the causal direction of these associations, our results highlight possible differential consequences of responsive vs. demanding parenting behavior for personality development in children in line with theories of parenting behavior and attachment. Our results thus advance earlier work in adolescents and adults, by showing that parenting behavior influences the development of the child's personality according to Cloninger's biosocial model already in three to six-year-olds.

Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (ANPS) and clinical implications: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Affective neuroscience (AN) theory assumes the existence of seven basic emotional systems (i.e., SEEKING, ANGER, FEAR, CARE, LUST, SADNESS, PLAY) that are common to all mammals and evolutionarily determined to be tools for survival and, in general, for fitness. Based on the AN approach, the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) questionnaire was developed to examine individual differences in the defined basic emotional systems. The current systematic review aims to examine the use of ANPS in clinical contexts attempting to define those behavioral elements associated with underlying stable personality traits.

METHODS

The systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA statements. PubMed and PsycInfo were used for research literature from March 2003 to November 2021.

RESULTS

Forty-four studies including ANPS were identified from 1763 studies reviewed. Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria.

LIMITATIONS

The review comprised some papers with incomplete psychological assessments (e.g., lack of other measures in addition to the ANPS) and missing information (e.g., on the [sub]samples), which may affect the generalizability of findings.

CONCLUSION

Specific endophenotypes and/or patterns of emotional/motivational systems were found for several mental disorders. Specifically, endophenotypes emerged for the Depressive and Autism Spectrum Disorders, Borderline and Avoidant Personality Disorders, type I and II Bipolar Disorders, and the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. The endophenotypes can provide useful reflective elements for both psychodiagnosis and intervention. Overall, the current study may represent an attempt to contribute to the understanding of the basic emotional systems involved in the psychopathological manifestations identified by AN.

Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales and Early Maladaptive Schemas in Depressive Disorders

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the interrelationships of Young’s early maladaptive schemas with indicators of specific neural emotional systems conceptualized in Panksepp’s theory in a group of people suffering from depressive disorders. Materials and methods: The Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) v. 2.4. and J. Young’s Early Maladaptive Schema Questionnaire (YSQ-S3-PL) were used. Ninety (90) individuals aged 18–58, including 45 people treated for depression (DD group), were qualified to participate in the experiment. Results: The subjects in the DD group scored statistically significantly lower than the subjects from the control group (CG group) on the three ANPS scale domains, namely SEEKING, PLAY, and ANGER. The subjects with depressive symptoms scored significantly higher in the YSQ-S3-PL questionnaire on two domains of early maladaptive schemas, i.e., “Impaired autonomy and performance” and “Other-directedness”. Regression analysis results indicate that impairment of the emotional SEEKING system explains most of the variability in the following typical domains of depression: “Disconnection and rejection”, “Impaired autonomy and performance”, and “Other-directedness”. For score variability in the domain area of “Impaired limits”, the ANGER system was found to be most significant, and the FEAR system proved the same for “Overvigilance and Inhibition”. Conclusions: 1. Two domains of early maladaptive schemas are significant for the onset of depressive symptoms, namely “Impaired autonomy and performance” and “Other-directedness”, linked to difficulties in engaging in behaviors to meet one’s own needs. 2. Impairment of the neural emotional SEEKING system most significantly explains the variability in depression-typical areas of early maladaptive schemas.

The Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales: Linking the adjective and statement-based inventories with the Big Five Inventory in English and German-speaking samples

Jaak Panksepp's Affective Neuroscience Theory is of high relevance not only for a better understanding of affective brain disorders but also in personality research. To make Panksepp's theory more accessible for psychologists and psychiatrists, Davis, Panksepp, and Normansell (2003) developed the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS). These scales assess the manifestation of the primary emotional traits in humans based on a personality trait approach. Given their putative foundation in old subcortical areas in the brain, these primary emotional traits (assessed via the ANPS) could represent the evolutionarily oldest manifestations of personality (but this notion is still a matter of a debate). However, the ANPS inventories were based on using contextual items (e.g., about specific attitudes, behaviors, and feelings in specific situations). Recently, an adjective-based ANPS (ANPS-Adjective Ratings or ANPS-AR) was developed for a less context-dependent and more efficient assessment of Panksepp's primary emotional systems in humans for use by both individuals and independent observer raters. The present work introduces the first German version of the ANPS-AR. Moreover, the current work investigates the original and ANPS-AR versions of the ANPS and their associations with the Big Five personality traits in two independent English- and German-speaking samples. The results show that the ANPS measures are very similarly correlated with the Big Five personality traits across different samples and scales. This work replicates the previous findings in an English version, and demonstrates the reliability and validity of the adjective-based German ANPS-AR.

The Affective Neuroscience of Sexuality: Development of a LUST Scale

Background

In recent years, there have been many studies using the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) to investigate individual differences in primary emotion traits. However, in contrast to other primary emotion traits proposed by Jaak Panksepp and colleagues, there is a considerable lack of research on the LUST (L) dimension – defined as an individual’s capacity to attain sexual desire and satisfaction – a circumstance mainly caused by its exclusion from the ANPS. Therefore, this study aims to take a first step toward the development of a standardized self-rate measurement for the L-disposition. For this purpose, two versions of the L-scales (L-12 and L-5) were developed and evaluated regarding reliability and aspects of validity.

Materials and Methods

After a pilot study (N = 204; female: 81%) with an initial 20-item pool item reductions were conducted. This led to the construction of a 12-item (L-12) version and a 5-item version (L-5), which were assessed in a second sample consisting of 371 German-speaking healthy adults (58.50% female) aged 18–69 years (M = 28; SD = 9.75). Aspects of external validity were assessed by investigation of correlations with the ANPS, psychiatric symptoms (Brief Symptom Inventory-18), attachment security (Adult Attachment Scales) and personality functioning (Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostics Structure Questionnaire). To evaluate structural validity, both L-scales were investigated via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Results

Cronbach’s α indicated excellent internal consistency regarding L-12 (α = 0.90), while L-5 showed acceptable reliability (α = 0.82). CFA of a bifactor model of the L-12 indicated excellent model fit. Moreover, an excellent model fit was observed regarding a single factor model of L-5. For both scales small to moderate positive correlations were observed with SEEKING, PLAY, and secure attachment, while they exhibited small to moderate negative correlations with SADNESS, insecure attachment, lower personality functioning, and increased psychiatric symptom load.

Conclusion

Both newly developed scales exhibit satisfying psychometric properties, indicating high reliability, good structural validity and plausible correlations with external criteria. Hence, this study poses an important step toward the operationalization of the LUST concept. However, more research is needed in particular with respect to the scale’s external validity and its applicability in clinical populations.

The future of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales: A reflection on seven pressing matters

The Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) were designed to provide researchers in the mental sciences with an inventory to assess primary emotional systems according to Pankseppian Affective Neuroscience Theory (ANT). The original ANPS, providing researchers with such a tool, was published in 2003. In the present brief communication, about 20 years later, we reflect upon some pressing matters regarding the further development of the ANPS. We touch upon problems related to disentangling traits and states of the primary emotional systems with the currently available versions of the ANPS and upon its psychometric properties and its length. We reflect also on problems such as the large overlap between the SADNESS and FEAR dimensions, the disentangling of PANIC and GRIEF in the context of SADNESS, and the absence of a LUST scale. Lastly, we want to encourage scientists with the present brief communication to engage in further biological validation of the ANPS.

“Nothing to see here”: No structural brain differences as a function of the Big Five personality traits from a systematic review and meta-analysis

Personality reflects social, affective, and cognitive predispositions that emerge from genetic and environmental influences. Contemporary personality theories conceptualize a Big Five Model of personality based on the traits of neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. Starting around the turn of the millennium, neuroimaging studies began to investigate functional and structural brain features associated with these traits. Here, we present the first study to systematically evaluate the entire published literature of the association between the Big Five traits and three different measures of brain structure. Qualitative results were highly heterogeneous, and a quantitative meta-analysis did not produce any replicable results. The present study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the literature and its limitations, including sample heterogeneity, Big Five personality instruments, structural image data acquisition, processing, and analytic strategies, and the heterogeneous nature of personality and brain structures. We propose to rethink the biological basis of personality traits and identify ways in which the field of personality neuroscience can be strengthened in its methodological rigor and replicability.

Non-human contributions to personality neuroscience – from fish through primates. An introduction to the special issue

The most fundamental emotional systems that show trait control are evolutionarily old and extensively conserved. Psychology in general has benefited from non-human neuroscience and from the analytical simplicity of behaviour in those with simpler nervous systems. It has been argued that integration between personality, psychopathology, and neuroscience is particularly promising if we are to understand the neurobiology of human experience. Here, we provide some general arguments for a non-human approach being at least as productive in relation to personality, psychopathology, and their interface. Some early personality theories were directly linked to psychopathology (e.g., Eysenck, Panksepp, and Cloninger). They shared a common interest in brain systems that naturally led to the use of non-human data; behavioural, neural, and pharmacological. In Eysenck’s case, this also led to the selective breeding, at the Maudsley Institute, of emotionally reactive and non-reactive strains of rat as models of trait neuroticism or trait emotionality. Dimensional personality research and categorical approaches to clinical disorder then drifted apart from each other, from neuropsychology, and from non-human data. Recently, the conceptualizations of both healthy personality and psychopathology have moved towards a common hierarchical trait perspective. Indeed, the proposed two sets of trait dimensions appear similar and may even be eventually the same. We provide, here, an introduction to this special issue of Personality Neuroscience, where the authors provide overviews of detailed areas where non-human data inform human personality and its psychopathology or provide explicit models for translation to human neuroscience. Once all the papers in the issue have appeared, we will also provide a concluding summary of them.

The Roles of Primary Emotional Systems and Need Satisfaction in Problematic Internet and Smartphone Use: A Network Perspective

Problematic Internet and smartphone use (PIU and PSU, respectively) have received significant attention over the past years. In the current work, we studied the associations between PIU and PSU, primary emotional systems, and need satisfaction. The effective sample comprised 399 people who responded to scales measuring these variables. Bivariate correlation analysis showed that both PSU and PIU were positively associated with negative primary emotion traits (FEAR, ANGER, SADNESS) as well as lower scores on most of the need satisfaction factors. Network analysis showed that while PIU and PSU have a strong association with each other, in general, there were not many significant correlations between PSU, PIU, and other variables in the network. The associations being present were rather weak. Network analysis showed that PSU was positively associated with FEAR, ANGER, PLAY primary emotional systems. Both PSU and PIU had a negative association with safety and security and physiological needs satisfaction. Moreover, PSU had a positive link with belongingness need satisfaction, while higher PIU was associated with lower esteem and self-actualization need satisfaction. Addressing those unmet needs may be helpful in reducing problematic technology use, but further research testing this would be necessary.

Affective Neuroscience: The Suitability of a Web App to Monitor Affective States at Work

This work describes in detail the use of a new tool, a web-app, based on the conceptual framework of affective neuroscience, in particular on Panksepp’s 7 basic emotional systems. Affective neuroscience has been used effectively in many areas, but there have been very few applications in the workplace, due to the lack of a smart implementation tool. The novelty of this work does not lie in the new information, but in a new “clinical” approach. There is a theoretical framework that allows data to be interpreted rather than simply described. Furthermore, the knowledge of working realities through the web app is specific and longitudinal. Finally, emotions are detected in hic et nunc, so the role of reflexive-cognitive mediation and recall bias are minor. This “more situated” knowledge can then guide specific leadership strategies. This paper presents the results of the tool’s application in a company in Northern Italy. The findings of our project, which recorded basic affective states and the functioning of several working teams, are detailed herein. The project’s 488 web-app records are summarized in this report, alongside our examination of related mood tags. Through this project, our analysis has enabled to determine affective neuroscience profiles of the teams analyzed, allowing the researchers to identify areas of possible interventions. The data appear very encouraging.

A meta-analysis on individual differences in primary emotional systems and Big Five personality traits

The Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) were constructed as a self-report assessment to measure individual differences in Jaak Panksepp's cross-species primary emotional systems: SEEKING, PLAY, CARE (positive emotions) and FEAR, SADNESS, ANGER (negative emotions). Beginning with the first published work on the ANPS in 2003, individual differences on the ANPS measures of these six primary emotional systems have been consistently linked to Big Five personality traits. From a theoretical perspective, these primary emotional systems arising from subcortical regions, shed light on the nature of the Big Five personality traits from an evolutionary perspective, because each of these primary emotional systems represent a tool for survival endowing mammalian species with inherited behavioral programs to react appropriately to complex environments. The present work revisited 21 available samples where both ANPS and Big Five measures have been administered. Our meta-analytical analysis provides solid evidence that high SEEKING relates to high Openness to Experience, high PLAY to high Extraversion, high CARE/low ANGER to high Agreeableness and high FEAR/SADNESS/ANGER to high Neuroticism. This seems to be true regardless of the ANPS inventory chosen, although much more work is needed in this area. Associations between primary emotional systems and Conscientiousness were in the lower effect size area across all six primary emotions, thereby supporting the idea that Conscientiousness rather seems to be less directly related with the subcortical primary emotions and likely is the most cognitive/cortical personality construct out of the Big Five. In sum, the present work underlines the idea that individual differences in primary emotional systems represent evolutionarily ancient foundations of human personality, given their a) meaningful links to the prominent Big Five model and b) their origins lying in subcortical areas of the human brain.