Insular cortex

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The insular cortex , or the insula , lies deep to the lateral surface of the brain, completely covered by the frontal, parietal, and temporal opercula. The insular cortex has been described in the medical literature as a separate lobe of the telencephalon the "fifth lobe" or as a part of other structural or functional groupings. Most would refer to it as a distinct area i. The insular cortex lies deep to the lateral sulcus Sylvian fissure , which separates the frontal and parietal lobes dorsally from the temporal lobe ventrally. The overlying cortical areas formed by the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes are known as opercula meaning "lids". The insula is shaped like a sessile irregular pyramid, with its trapezoid base facing medially.

Insular cortex

Situated deep within the folds of the cortex—the outer layer of the cerebrum—lies the insular cortex. Sometimes called the insula, insulary lobe, or insulary cortex, this brain region remains something of a mystery. Its location deep within the brain makes it difficult to explore, and until recent decades, doctors had little understanding of its purpose. That's changing, thanks in part to better brain imaging technologies, but much remains to be understood about this vital brain structure. To understand the insular cortex's location, you must first understand a bit about brain anatomy. All mammals, including humans, have a cerebral cortex. This outermost layer of the brain is relatively new, evolutionarily speaking, and houses a range of brain regions associated with cognition, emotion, and other complex behaviors and thoughts. Located within the cerebral cortex is an organ known as the lateral sulcus. Sometimes called the Sylvian fissure, this brain region separates the frontal , parietal , and temporal lobes of the brain. The insular cortex is situated inside of the Sylvian fissure.

Functional imaging experiments have revealed that the insula has an important role in pain experience insular cortex the experience of a number of basic emotionsincluding angerfeardisgusthappinessand sadness.

The insular cortex also insula and insular lobe is a portion of the cerebral cortex folded deep within the lateral sulcus the fissure separating the temporal lobe from the parietal and frontal lobes within each hemisphere of the mammalian brain. The insulae are believed to be involved in consciousness and play a role in diverse functions usually linked to emotion or the regulation of the body's homeostasis. These functions include compassion , empathy , taste , perception , motor control , self-awareness , cognitive functioning , interpersonal experience , and awareness of homeostatic emotions such as hunger, pain and fatigue. In relation to these, it is involved in psychopathology. The insular cortex is divided into two parts: the anterior insula and the posterior insula in which more than a dozen field areas have been identified. The cortical area overlying the insula toward the lateral surface of the brain is the operculum meaning lid. The opercula are formed from parts of the enclosing frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes.

The human insular cortex is involved in a variety of viscerosensory, visceromotor, and interoceptive functions, and plays a role in complex processes such as emotions, music, and language. Across mammals, the insula has considerable morphologic variability. We review the structure and connectivity of the insula in laboratory animals mouse, domestic cat, macaque monkey , and we present original data on the morphology and cytoarchitecture of insular cortex in less common species including a large carnivore the Atlantic walrus, Odobenus rosmarus , two artiodactyls the pigmy hippopotamus, Hexaprotodon liberiensis , and the Western bongo, Tragelaphus eurycerus , two cetaceans the beluga whale, Delphinapterus leucas , and the minke whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata , and a sirenian the Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris. The insula shows substantial variability in shape, extent, and gyral and sulcal patterns, as well as differences in laminar organization, cellular specialization, and structural association with the claustrum. Our observations reveal that the insular cortex is extremely variable among mammals.

Insular cortex

Thank you for visiting nature. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer. In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. These memories are believed to be encoded by separate ensembles of neurons in the brain, but their whereabouts remain elusive. Using an auditory fear-conditioning and extinction paradigm in male mice, here we discovered that two distinct projection neuron subpopulations in physical proximity within the insular cortex IC , targeting the central amygdala CeA and nucleus accumbens NAc , respectively, to encode fear and extinction memories. Reciprocal intracortical inhibition of these two IC subpopulations gates the emergence of either fear or extinction memory.

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In their study of 10 patients with isolated insular stroke, Baier et al. To our knowledge, only one case study reported vestibular symptoms i. Injured brain regions associated with anxiety in Vietnam veterans. Interoception: the sense of the physiological condition of the body. Loading Stack - 0 images remaining. Another perception of the right anterior insula is the degree of nonpainful warmth [32] or nonpainful coldness [33] of a skin sensation. Levin d; Antoine Bechara J Neurosurg. Cerebral Cortex. The venous drainage of the insula is complex and somewhat variable as a majority of cadaveric specimens demonstrate a mix of superficial and deep venous connections.

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Related articles: Anatomy: Brain. It is of particular benefit when accessing lesions in the dominant hemisphere since the operator can better spare the eloquent language areas of the temporal and frontal lobes. J Craniofac Surg. Microanatomical study of the insular perforating arteries. Brain Cogn. The innervation of the scalp: A comprehensive review including anatomy, pathology, and neurosurgical correlates. Revisiting the role of the insula in refractory partial epilepsy. Functional neuroimaging research suggests the insula is involved in two types of salience. In a study of eight patients with strokes affecting the insula, all patients were found to have central auditory deficits including temporal resolution and sequencing deficits Contributed by Kunal Bhatia, MD.