Review Special Issues

I Feel, Therefore, I am: The Insula and Its Role in Human Emotion, Cognition and the Sensory-Motor System

  • Received: 25 November 2014 Accepted: 30 January 2015 Published: 03 February 2015
  • Background: The insula is instrumental in integrating the emotional, cognitive, and sensory-motor systems. This manuscript lays a foundational framework for understanding the insula’s mechanistic role in moderating brain networks in illness and wellness. Methods: Reviewed here is the select literature on the brain anatomy and function relevant to the insula’s role in psychiatrically ill and normative populations. Results: The insula is a hub for moderating social cognition, empathy, reward-driven decision-making, arousal, reactivity to emotional stimuli, and somatic pain processing. Findings indicate a spectrum of increasing complexity in insular function – from receiving and interpreting sensorimotor sensations in the posterior insula to subjective perception of emotions in the anterior insula. The insula plays a key role at the interface of cognitive and emotional domains, functioning in concert with other brain regions that share common cytoarchitecture, such as the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex. Pharmacotherapy and mindfulness-based interventions can alter insular activation. Conclusion: The insula serves as a receiver and interpreter of emotions in the context of cognitive and sensory-motor information. Therefore, insular function and connectivity may potentially be utilized as a biomarker for treatment selection and outcome.

    Citation: Mani Pavuluri, Amber May. I Feel, Therefore, I am: The Insula and Its Role in Human Emotion, Cognition and the Sensory-Motor System[J]. AIMS Neuroscience, 2015, 2(1): 18-27. doi: 10.3934/Neuroscience.2015.1.18

    Related Papers:

  • Background: The insula is instrumental in integrating the emotional, cognitive, and sensory-motor systems. This manuscript lays a foundational framework for understanding the insula’s mechanistic role in moderating brain networks in illness and wellness. Methods: Reviewed here is the select literature on the brain anatomy and function relevant to the insula’s role in psychiatrically ill and normative populations. Results: The insula is a hub for moderating social cognition, empathy, reward-driven decision-making, arousal, reactivity to emotional stimuli, and somatic pain processing. Findings indicate a spectrum of increasing complexity in insular function – from receiving and interpreting sensorimotor sensations in the posterior insula to subjective perception of emotions in the anterior insula. The insula plays a key role at the interface of cognitive and emotional domains, functioning in concert with other brain regions that share common cytoarchitecture, such as the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex. Pharmacotherapy and mindfulness-based interventions can alter insular activation. Conclusion: The insula serves as a receiver and interpreter of emotions in the context of cognitive and sensory-motor information. Therefore, insular function and connectivity may potentially be utilized as a biomarker for treatment selection and outcome.


    加载中
    [1] Klumpp H, Fitzgerald DA, Cook E, et al. (2014) Serotonin transporter gene alters insula activity to threat in social anxiety disorder. Neuroreport 25: 926-931. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0000000000000210
    [2] 3. Pavuluri MN, Passarotti AM, Fitzgerald JM, et al. (12) Risperidone and divalproex differentially engage the fronto-striato-temporal circuitry in pediatric mania: a pharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 51: 157-170 e155. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2011.10.019
    [3] 4. Menon V, Uddin LQ (2010) Saliency, switching, attention and control: a network model of insula function. Brain Struct Funct 214: 655-667. doi: 10.1007/s00429-010-0262-0
    [4] 5. Craig AD (2009) How do you feel——now? The anterior insula and human awareness. Nat Rev Neurosci 10: 59-70.
    [5] 6. Mutschler I, Schulze-Bonhage A, Glauche V, et al. (2007) A rapid sound-action association effect in human insular cortex. PLoS One 2: e2. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0000259
    [6] 7. McGrath CL, Kelley ME, Holtzheimer PE, et al. (2013) Toward a neuroimaging treatment selection biomarker for major depressive disorder. JAMA Psychiatry 70: 821-829. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.143
    [7] 8. Uddin LQ, Menon V (2009) The anterior insula in autism: under-connected and under-examined. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 33: 1198-1203. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.06.002
    [8] 9. Augustine JR (1996) Circuitry and functional aspects of the insular lobe in primates including humans. Brain Res Brain Res Rev 22: 229-244. doi: 10.1016/S0165-0173(96)00011-2
    [9] 10. Stephani C, Fernandez-Baca Vaca G, Maciunas R, et al. (2011) Functional neuroanatomy of the insular lobe. Brain Struct Funct 216: 137-14 doi: 10.1007/s00429-010-0296-3
    [10] 11. Allman JM, Tetreault NA, Hakeem AY, et al. (20 The von Economo neurons in frontoinsular and anterior cingulate cortex in great apes and humans. Brain Struct Funct 214: 495-517. doi: 10.1007/s00429-010-0254-0
    [11] 12. Cauda F, Torta DM, Sacco K, et al. (2013) Functional anatomy of cortical areas characterized by Von Economo neurons. Brain Struct Funct 218: 1-20. doi: 10.1007/s00429-012-0382-9
    [12] 13. Craig AD (2002) How do you feel? Interoception: the sense of the physiological condition of the body. Nat Rev Neurosci 3: 655-666.
    [13] 14. Critchley HD, Wiens S, Rotshtein P, et al. (2004) Neural systems supporting interoceptive awareness. Nat Neurosci 7: 189-195. doi: 10.1038/nn1176
    [14] 15. Bartels A, Zeki S (2004) The neural correlates of maternal and romantic love. Neuroimage 21:1155-1166. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.11.003
    [15] 16. Leibenluft E, Gobbini MI, Harrison T, et al. (2004) Mothers' neural activation in response to pictures of their children and other children. Biol Psychiatry 56: 225-232. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2004.05.017
    [16] 17. Koelsch S, Fritz T, DY VC, et al. (2006) Investigating emotion with music: an fMRI study. Hum Brain Mapp 27: 239-250. doi: 10.1002/hbm.20180
    [17] 18. Johnstone T, van Reekum CM, Oakes TR, et al. (2006) The voice of emotion: an FMRI study of neural responses to angry and happy vocal expressions. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 1: 242-249. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsl027
    [18] 19. Santos M, Uppal N, Butti C, et al. (2011) Von Economo neurons in autism: a stereologic study of the frontoinsular cortex in children. Brain Res 1380: 206-217. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2010.08.067
    [19] 20. Pavuluri MN, Passarotti AM, Lu LH, et al. (2011) Double-blind randomized trial of risperidone versus divalproex in pediatric bipolar disorder: fMRI outcomes. Psychiatry Res : 28-37. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2011.01.005
    [20] 21. Wegbreit E, Pavuluri M (2) Mechanistic comparisons of functional domains across pediatric and adult bipolar disorder highlight similarities, as well as differences, influenced by the developing brain. Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci 49: 75-83.
    [21] 22. Yang H, Lu LH, Wu M, et al. (2013) Time course of recovery showing initial prefrontal cortex changes at 16 weeks, extending to subcortical changes by 3 years in pediatric bipolar disorder. J Affect Disord 150: 571-577. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2013.02.007
    [22] 23. Wu M, Lu LH, Passarotti AM, et al. (2013) Altered affective, executive and sensorimotor resting state networks in patients with pediatric mania. J Psychiatry Neurosci 38: 232-240. doi: 10.1503/jpn.120073
    [23] 24. Greicius MD, Supekar K, Menon V, et al. (2009) Resting-state functional connectivity reflects structural connectivity in the default mode network. Cereb Cortex 19: 72-78. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhn059
    [24] 25. Fox MD, Greicius M (2010) Clinical applications of resting state functional connectivity. Front Syst Neurosci 4: 19.
    [25] 26. Seeley WW, Menon V, Schatzberg AF, et al. (2007) Dissociable intrinsic connectivity networks for salience processing and executive control. J Neurosci 27: 2349-2356. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5587-06.2007
    [26] 27. Seeley WW (2009) Frontotemporal dementia neuroimaging: a guide for clinicians. Front Neurol Neurosci 24: 160-167.
    [27] 28. Seeley WW, Carlin DA, Allman JM, et al. (2006) Early frontotemporal dementia targets neurons unique to apes and humans. Ann Neurol 60: 660-667. doi: 10.1002/ana.21055
    [28] 29. Pavuluri MN, Ellis JA, Wegbreit E, et al. (2012) Pharmacotherapy impacts functional connectivity among affective circuits during response inhibition in pediatric mania. Behav Brain Res 226: 493-503. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2011.10.003
    [29] 30. Ramautar JR, Slagter HA, Kok A, et al. (2006) Probability effects in the stop-signal paradigm: the insula and the significance of failed inhibition. Brain Res 1105: 143-154. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2006.02.091
    [30] 31. Pavuluri MN, O'Connor MM, Harral EM, et al. (2008) An fMRI study of the interface between affective and cognitive neural circuitry in pediatric bipolar disorder. Psychiatry Res 162:244-255. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2007.10.003
    [31] 32. Thielscher A, Pessoa L (2007) Neural correlates of perceptual choice and decision making during fear-disgust discrimination. J Neurosci 27: 2908-2917. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3024-06.2007
    [32] 33. Wang XL, Du MY, Chen TL, et al. (2014) Neural correlates during working memory processing in major depressive disorder. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 56C: 101-108.
    [33] 34. Di Martino A, Shehzad Z, Kelly C, et al. (2009) Relationship between cingulo-insular functional connectivity and autistic traits in neurotypical adults. Am J Psychiatry 166: 891-899. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.08121894
    [34] 35. Allman JM, Watson KK, Tetreault NA, et al. (2005) Intuition and autism: a possible role for Von Economo neurons. Trends Cogn Sci 9: 367-373. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2005.06.008
    [35] 36. Jankowiak-Siuda K, Zajkowski W (2013) A neural model of mechanisms of empathy deficits in narcissism. Med Sci Monit 19: 934-941. doi: 10.12659/MSM.889593
    [36] 37. Hauser TU, Iannaccone R, Walitza S, et al. (2014) Cognitive flexibility in adolescence: Neural and behavioral mechanisms of reward prediction error processing in adaptive decision making during development. Neuroimage.
    [37] 38. Crone EA, Dahl RE (2012) Understanding adolescence as a period of social-affective engagement and goal flexibility. Nat Rev Neurosci 13: 636-650. doi: 10.1038/nrn3313
    [38] 39. Preuschoff K, Quartz SR, Bossaerts P (2008) Human insula activation reflects risk prediction errors as well as risk. J Neurosci 28: 2745-2752. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4286-07.2008
    [39] 40. Lang PJ (1994) The varieties of emotional experience: a meditation on James-Lange theory. Psychol Rev 101: 211-221. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.101.2.211
    [40] 41. Pavuluri MN, O'Connor MM, Harral E, et al. (2007) Affective neural circuitry during facial emotion processing in pediatric bipolar disorder. Biol Psychiatry 62: 158-167. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.07.011
    [41] 42. Strawn JR, Keeshin BR, DelBello MP, et al. (2010) Psychopharmacologic treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents: a review. J Clin Psychiatry 71:932-9 doi: 10.4088/JCP.09r05446blu
    [42] 43. Wiech K, Jbabdi S, Lin CS, et al. (2014) Differential structural and resting state connectivity between insular subdivisions and other pain-related brain regions. Pain 155: 2047-2055. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2014.07.009
    [43] 44. Craig AD (2003) A new view of pain as a homeostatic emotion. Trends Neurosci 26: 303-307. doi: 10.1016/S0166-2236(03)00123-1
    [44] 45. Ogino Y, Nemoto H, Inui K, et al. (2007) Inner experience of pain: imagination of pain while viewing images showing painful events forms subjective pain representation in human brain. Cereb Cortex 17: 1139-1146.
    [45] 46. Pavuluri M, May A (2014) Differential Treatment of Pediatric Bipolar Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Psychiatric Annals 44: 471-480. doi: 10.3928/00485713-20141003-06
    [46] 47. Paul NA, Stanton SJ, Greeson JM, et al. (2013) Psychological and neural mechanisms of trait mindfulness in reducing depression vulnerability. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 8: 56-64. doi: 10.1093/scan/nss070
    [47] 48. Kirk U, Brown KW, Downar J (2014) Adaptive neural reward processing during anticipation and receipt of monetary rewards in mindfulness meditators. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci.
    [48] 49. Rolland B, Amad A, Poulet E, et al. (2014) Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Nucleus Accumbens in Auditory and Visual Hallucinations in Schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull.
  • Reader Comments
  • © 2015 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com
  • 1. 

    沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院 沈阳 110142

  1. 本站搜索
  2. 百度学术搜索
  3. 万方数据库搜索
  4. CNKI搜索

Metrics

Article views(15284) PDF downloads(2044) Cited by(40)

Article outline

Figures and Tables

Figures(1)

Other Articles By Authors

/

DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
Return
Return

Catalog