Excerpt:
Brain Differences Between Personality Types
It turns out, personality types are associated with a number of brain features. The brains of introverts look and react differently than the brains of extroverts. The key differences(Henry Ford Health, 2022):
- The prefrontal cortex. Introverts have a thicker prefrontal cortex than extroverts, which means they have more tissue in the area of the brain associated with deep thought and decision-making. “Since extroverts have thinner matter in the prefrontal cortex, they process information quickly and tend to react impulsively compared to introverts, who mull things over before deciding on a course of action,” Dr. MacLean says(Henry Ford Health, 2022).
- Dopamine. Dopamine is a feel-good chemical the brain produces in response to pleasurable pursuits. While introverts and extroverts have the same amount of dopamine in their brains, extroverts have a more active dopamine reward network. So, when extroverts prepare for a party, they feel motivated, energized and excited. An introvert may feel a sense of dread — or just less enthusiasm — under the same circumstances(Henry Ford Health, 2022).
- Acetylcholine. Like dopamine, acetylcholine is linked to pleasure. But unlike dopamine, acetylcholine makes a person feel good when they’re calm, quiet and introspective — and introverts tend to have more acetylcholine receptors in their brains than extroverts. In this calm environment, introverts are able to reflect and focus on the task at hand without a lot of external noise(Henry Ford Health, 2022).
Relevance:
Since my board topic is focused on mood enhancement, I think understanding how those brain differences are crucial. The article mainly talks about the introverts and extroverts react differently due to the prefrontal cortex, dopamine, and acetylcholine in their brains. How can we design something to impact these reactions in people’s brains in a certain way? Since introverts and extroverts reflect and focus differently in different environments, can we design something that has varying cognitive loads? Such as personalized emotional triggers for different personality types? I think a product that considers how different personality types react to external stimuli can provide a more involving and engaging user experience. Understanding how different personality types prefer different stimulating settings is also going to be helpful for designers to think about how environments can be adjusted in a way that suits and matches them.
Reference:
Henry Ford Health. (2022, September 21). Introvert or extrovert: What’s the difference? Henry Ford Health Blog. https://www.henryford.com/blog/2022/09/introvert-or-extrovert
