Reduced integrity of white matter fiber tracts connecting frontal and posterior sites are associated with a higher propensity to experience meaningful coincidences

The propensity to experience meaningful patterns in random arrangements and unrelated events is a personality trait with relationships to perceptual alterations and decreased working memory capacity. This study investigated the relationship between the propensity to experience meaningful coincidences and white matter fiber tracts (voxel-based), especially those connecting frontal and (temporal) posterior cortical areas. We studied this in a comparatively large sample of n = 101 participants and found a reduced integrity of white matter (i.e., lower quantitative anisotropy [QA]) in people experiencing more meaningful coincidences (FDR corrected p < 0.001). The associative fiber tracts connecting the frontal and posterior areas (that is, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus), as well as the commissural fiber tracts connecting the regions of the left and right brain, showed the strongest negative associations. These structural characteristics of the coincidence perceiver's brain are in line with the hypothesis that reduced inhibitory control (over sensory processes) and working memory deficits are the main reason why some people perceive more meaningful coincidences than others.