Dopamine, appetitive reinforcement, and the neuropsychology of human learning: An individual differences approach

Personality research is usually perceived as lying towards the “softer” end of
psychological inquiry, seemingly far from the “harder” neural mechanisms, processes, and
neurological lesions which are the daily stuff of neuropsychology. As biologically-oriented
personality psychologists, however, we have always tried to couch our proposals in brain-
behavioural terms and have even offered suggestions as to the “neuropsychology” of
personality traits such as anxiety and their related clinical conditions (e.g., Gray, 1982).
Furthermore, several other personality theorists have also drawn from the rich materials of
behavioural neuroscience (e.g., Cloninger, Svracik, & Przybeck, 1993; Depue & Collins,
1999; Zuckerman, 1991). In this chapter we continue to apply our neuropsychological
approach to personality: specifically focusing on the effects of personality traits on learning
tasks.