German Researchers Claim Heartbeats Reveal Personality Traits
Posted on March 12, 2012
German researchers from Freie Universitat Berlin say personality traits are revealed in people's heartbeat signatures. The researchers say their results from a study are the first to demonstrate that electrocardiogram (ECG) amplitude patterns provide information about the personality of an individual as measured with NEO personality scores.
For the study, NEO scores and rest ECGs were obtained from 425 healthy individuals aged 18 to 33. All ECG analyses were carried out blinded - without any knowledge about the NEO-scores of any participant. The researchers found that neuroticism and positive emotion significantly differed between individuals with high and low ECG values. The researchers say individuals with higher ECG values had lower neuroticism and higher positive emotion scores.
MSNBC's Body Odd says the researchers believe their newly discovered heartbeat test could be a more accurate and reliable way to measure personality than current measures of personality.
The study was published here in PLoS One.