Anterior insula activations in perceptual paradigms: often observed but barely understood
Abstract
Anterior insular cortex is among the non-sensory brain regions most commonly found activated in functional brain imaging studies on visual and auditory perception. However, most of these studies do not explicitly address the functional role of this specific brain region in perception, but rather report its activation as a by-product. Here, we attempt to characterize the involvement of anterior insular cortex in various perceptual paradigms, including studies of visual awareness, perceptual decision making, cross-modal sensory processes and the role of spontaneous neural activity fluctuations in perception. We conclude that anterior insular cortex may be associated with perception in that it underpins heightened alertness of either stimulus- or task-driven origin, or both. Such a mechanism could integrate endogenous and exogenous functional demands under the joint criterion of whether they challenge an individual's homeostasis.
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AIC serves as a key node in integrating top-down and bottom-up information.
“We propose that AIC serves as a key node in such information integration process, based on findings of superadditive effects of task demand and stimulus valence in AIC (Fig. 2C, modified from Gu et al., 2013; for review see Sterzer and Kleinschmidt, 2010).”
From Anterior insular cortex and emotional awareness (2013) · cites this paper as Sterzer and Kleinschmidt, 2010
The perspective on AIC as part of hierarchical predictive coding explains AIC involvement across low-level autonomic and sensorimotor to high-level cognitive and social domains.
“This perspective on the AIC as an integral part of hierarchical predictive coding in the brain explains the involvement of AIC across low-level autonomic and sensorimotor (Craig et al., 2000; Sterzer and Kleinschmidt, 2010; Fan et al., 2012) to high-level cognitive and social (Montague and Lohrenz, 2007; King-Casas et al., 2008; Bossaerts, 2010; Kirk et al., 2011) domains.”
From Anterior insular cortex and emotional awareness (2013) · cites this paper as Sterzer and Kleinschmidt, 2010
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- Authors
- Sterzer, P., & Kleinschmidt, A.
- Affiliations
- Stiftung Charité (DE)
- Inserm (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Sterzer, Philipp
- Venue
- Brain Structure and Function
- Published
- 2010-05-29
- Volume
- 214
- Issue
- 5-6
- Pages
- 611-622
- ISSN
- 1863-2653 (ISSN-L)
- 1863-2661
- OpenAlex
- W2150609952
- Cited by
- 183
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 1.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Brain Structure and Function (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Innovative Research Group Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- anterior insula, perception, visual awareness, perceptual decision making, cross-modal perception, alertness, homeostasis
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Awareness, Cerebral Cortex, Cognition, Decision Making, Humans, Perception, Visual Perception
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