Evoked potential augmenting-reducing and personality differences

Normal volunteers (N = 120) were screened on the evoked potential (EP) measure of augmenting/reducing introduced by Buchsbaum and Silverman (1968). Extreme augmenters were compared with extreme reducers on the Zuckerman Sensation-seeking Scales, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM) and a measure of pain sensitivity. Reducers are more extraverted and more sensation-seeking than augmenters; they are also less sensitive to pain and they have higher scores on the RAPM test. The fact that individuals selected for contrasting EP response patterns differ on these psychological variables supports the idea that there is a neurophysiological basis for individual differences in personality, pain perception and intelligence.