We characterize Openness/Intellect as motivated cognitive
flexibility, or cognitive exploration, and develop a neuropsychological
model relating it to dopaminergic function and to the functions of the
prefrontal cortex (PFC). Evidence is reviewed for sources of Openness/
Intellect shared with Extraversion and sources unique to Openness/Intellect.
The hypothesis that the cognitive functions of the dorsolateral PFC
are among the latter was tested using standard measures of cognitive
ability and a battery of tasks associated with dorsolateral PFC function