Novelty seeking predicts anxiety reduction across different TMS targets

Background:
The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was developed to provide a biopsychosocial basis for genetic, cultural, psychological, and spiritual components of personality. Novelty seeking (NS), a temperament component of the TCI model, relates to the extent of excitement associated with novel stimuli, and higher NS scores have been seen in individuals that engage in more risky behavior. Lesions that modify NS have been localized to specific brain networks (Palm et al., Biorxiv). We analyzed the association between baseline NS scores and TMS-induced improvement in anxiety in a randomized, controlled trial that targeted two different brain networks.

Methods:
23 participants were randomized to receive TMS either at the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dysphoric target, n=10) or the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (anxiosomatic target, n=13) in a sub-analysis of a clinical trial. The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) was used as a measure of anxiety before and after TMS treatment to either the anxiosomatic or dysphoric target. We used Spearman correlations to examine whether any of the four temperament traits predicted change in anxiety across both targets in a weighted mean.

Results:
Higher baseline NS was associated with greater improvement in BAI scores (r= -0.61, p=0.0018). The remaining three traits were not significantly associated with BAI change.

Conclusions:
Across two different targets, TMS was more effective in reducing anxiety for patients with more greater baseline novelty seeking.