The insular cortex
Open accessAbstract
Whether you see the person you are in love with, try to listen to your own heartbeat, suffer from a headache, or crave for a chocolate cookie, one part of your brain is sure to increase its activity strongly: the insular cortex. The insular cortex, or 'insula' for short, is part of the cerebral cortex. J.C. Reil, a German neurologist, first named this brain structure in the early 19 th century. Subsequent research findings have implicated the insula in an overwhelming variety of functions ranging from sensory processing to representing feelings and emotions, autonomical and motor control, risk prediction and decision-making, bodily- and self-awareness, and complex social functions like empathy. How is one single brain area involved in so many different tasks? Is the insula comprised of several functional regions? How are these related? And, are there any common themes underlying the apparently so heterogeneous roles of the insula?
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The insula has long been recognized as a key player in sensory, affective, and cognitive processes, including sensory processing, homeostasis, emotions, motivation, decision-making, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, addiction, and eating disorders.
“The insular cortex, also known as the insula, has long been recognized as a key player in various sensory, affective, and cognitive processes, ranging from basic functions including sensory processing, bodily homeostasis, emotions, motivation, and decision-making, to maladaptive conditions including chronic pain, anxiety, depression, drug addiction, and eating disorders [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]”
From The Insular Cortex: An Interface Between Sensation, Emotion and Cognition (2024) · cites this paper as [2]
Pain, aversive response, and negative affect are very tightly linked.
“Thus, pain, aversive response, and negative affect are very tightly linked (Krahé et al., 2013; Klein, 2015; Gogolla, 2017; Von Mohr and Fotopoulou, 2018; Gehrlach et al., 2019).”
From Pain Asymbolia as Depersonalization for Pain Experience. An Interoceptive Active Inference Account (2020) · cites this paper as Gogolla, 2017
Insular cortex is positioned to integrate social affective stimuli as a nexus between multimodal sensory inputs and emotional, executive, and social circuits in the limbic system.
“Insular cortex is positioned to integrate social affective stimuli as a nexus between multimodal sensory inputs and emotional, executive, and social circuits in the limbic system10.”
From Insular cortex mediates approach and avoidance responses to social affective stimuli (2018) · cites this paper as [10]
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Self-citationCardiogenic control of affective behavioural state
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Insular cortex mediates approach and avoidance responses to social affective stimuli
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The Insular Cortex: An Interface Between Sensation, Emotion and Cognition
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The Community Resiliency Model® to promote nurse well-being
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Pain Asymbolia as Depersonalization for Pain Experience. An Interoceptive Active Inference Account
Gerrans, P. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.523710 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
“Thus, pain, aversive response, and negative affect are very tightly linked (Krahé et al., 2013; Klein, 2015; Gogolla, 2017; Von Mohr and Fotopoulou, 2018; Gehrlach et al., 2019).”
BackgroundNausea and Vomiting: a Palliative Care Imperative
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- Authors
- Gogolla, N.
- Affiliations
- Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Gogolla, Nadine
- ORCID
- Gogolla, Nadine
- Venue
- Current Biology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-06
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- R580-R586
- ISSN
- 0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2643238975
- Semantic Scholar
- fc7159c0407a2335541b58a088074656f9f5b365
- Cited by
- 851
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 100 · 2025: 146 · 2024: 153 · 2023: 113 · 2022: 112 · 2021: 98 · 2020: 74 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 10
- FWCI
- 29.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Current Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Keywords
- insula, cerebral cortex, functional specialization, sensory processing, emotions, autonomic regulation, motor control, risk prediction, decision-making, body awareness, self-awareness, empathy, social cognition
- MeSH terms
- Mental Disorders, Cerebral Cortex, Humans, Neural Pathways
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