Fig. 4: Relationship between locus coeruleus (LC) structural connectivity and psychological traits.

Most brain areas (a, b) that are structurally connected to the locus coeruleus (LC) showed a negative correlation to anxiety (STAI, a) and positive correlation to alertness (b) scores. All areas depicted in the further-back anatomy illustrations in (a, b) significantly correlated to anxiety (a) and alertness (b) with respect to LC structural connectivity, whereas the foreground illustrations single out the correlations with a very high r-coefficient only (r > 0.7, see Supplementary Table 3 for Glasser abbreviations). c Shows LC whole brain structural connectivity (raw z-values, see also Supplementary Fig. 2 for all subjects) of three example subjects: subject ‘8’, whose behavioral score was high in anxiety/low in alertness and who exhibits overall low structural LC connectivity, subject ‘5’ with medium values, and subject ‘7’ with low anxiety/high alertness effects and overall dense LC structural connectivity. c Illustrates, how structural connectivity of single subjects may provide a first impression of psychological traits.