EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS AND PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS IN THE LIGHT OF “EMBODIED COGNITION” THEORY: A STUDY ON A SAMPLE OF 130 SUBJECTS

RAFFAELE SPERANDEO^1,§,*, ELISABETTA PICCIOCCHI^2,3,§, ANNA VALENZANO², GIUSEPPE CIBELLI², VALENTINA RUBERTO², ENRICO MORETTO¹, VINCENZO MONDA⁴, ANTONIETTA MESSINA⁴, SILVIA DELL’ORCO⁵, ALFONSO DAVIDE DI SARNO¹, GABRIELLA MARSALA⁶, ANNA NUNZIA POLITO⁷, TERESA LONGOBARDI¹, NELSON MAURO MALDONATO⁵

¹SiPGI Postgraduate School of Integrated Gestalt Psychotherapy, D.M. 12.10.2007 Naples, Italy - ²Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy - ³Casa di Cura Villa dei Fiori Acerra, Napoli, Italy - ⁴Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Human Physiology and Unit of Dietetic and Sport Medicine, Università degli Studi della Campania, Naples, Italy - ⁵Department of Human science, Università della Basilicata, Italy - ⁶Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria, Ospedali Riuniti di Foggia, Foggia, Italy - ⁷Complex Structure of Neuropsychiatry Childhood-Adolescence of Ospedali Riuniti of Foggia, Italy

The Executive Functions and the dimensions of the personality seem to have numerous points of convergence both on the psychological and neurobiological sides. Current studies interpret this relationship as a linear concatenation that starts from a damage of the prefrontal cortical areas, produces a deficit of the executive functions and finally evolves towards the development of pathological character traits. In an “enacted cognition” perspective, the relationship between executive functions and person- ality should be interpreted according to a circular causality model that appears ecologically more realistic and adequate to empirical data.

The present study evaluates executive functions and personality dimensions in a sample of 130 subjects using the Frontal Assessment Battery, the Temperament and Character Inventory, respectively.

The results show that subjects with low empathic and emotional propensities, detected through 9 items of Temperament and Character Inventory, while not presenting any kind of disturbances, show Executive Functions that are not efficient or even inade- quate.

These data are not easily explained according to the classic linear model and seem to confirm the circular perspective pro- posed by the “embodied cognition” theory. However, an expansion of the sample is essential to obtain confirmation of the data that emerged.