Cited by 158Psychosomatic Disorders and Their TreatmentsTactile and Sensory InteractionsNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Anterior insular cortex anticipates impending stimulus significance

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Lovero, Kathryn L., Simmons, Alan N., Aron, Jennifer L., Paulus, Martin P.·2009·NeuroImage

Abstract

Touch is a fundamental, but complex, element of everyday interaction that impacts one's sensory and affective experience via interoceptive processing. The insular cortex is an integral component of the neural processes involved in interoception, i.e. the generation of an "emotional moment in time" through the sensing of the internal body state (Craig, A.D., 2002. How do you feel? Interoception: the sense of the physiological condition of the body. Nat. Rev. Neurosci 3, 655-666.). Here, we examine the contribution of different parts of the insular cortex in the representation of both affective and sensory aspects of touch. To that end, subjects were administered a cued application of touch during functional MRI. We find that stimulus-related activation occurs in the mid-to-posterior insula, whereas anticipatory related activation is seen mostly in anterior insula. Moreover, the degree of activation in anterior insula during anticipation is correlated with the degree of activation in the posterior insula and caudate during stimulus processing. Finally, the degree of activation in the anterior insula during anticipation is also correlated with experienced intensity of the touch. Taken together, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that the anterior insula is preparing for the sensory and affective impact of touch. This preparatory function has important implications for the understanding of both anxiety and addictive disorders because dysfunctions in anticipatory processing are a fundamental part of the psychopathology.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.12.070

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  • The AIC is activated by anticipation of painful and affect-laden touch.

    “the AIC is activated by anticipation of painful [31] and affect-laden touch [32]”

    From Interoceptive inference, emotion, and the embodied self (2013) · cites this paper as [32]

  • The AIC is activated by anticipation of painful and tactile stimuli.

    “The AIC is also activated by anticipation of painful (Ploghaus et al., 1999) and tactile stimuli (Lovero et al., 2009)”

    From An Interoceptive Predictive Coding Model of Conscious Presence (2012) · cites this paper as Lovero et al., 2009

  • The anterior insula receives direct projections from somatosensory regions but is involved in conscious representation of bodily sensations and regulation of arousal.

    “The anterior portion of the insula also receives direct projections from somatosensory regions, but is involved in the conscious representation of these bodily sensations and in the regulation of arousal [32, 37].”

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Knutson B Cooper JC Functional magnetic resonance imaging of reward prediction Curr. Opin. Neurol 2005a 18 411 417 16003117
  2. Schneider F Grodd W Weiss U Klose U Mayer KR Nagele T Gur RC Functional MRI reveals left amygdala activation during emotion Psychiatry Res 1997b 76 75 82 9522399

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Authors
Lovero, K. L., Simmons, A. N., Aron, J. L., & Paulus, M. P.
Affiliations
University of California San Diego (US)
Corresponding author
Paulus, Martin P.
Venue
NeuroImage
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2009-04
Volume
45
Issue
3
Pages
976-983
ISSN
1053-8119 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2014861265
Cited by
158
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 15
FWCI
8.25
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • NeuroImage (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA016663, R01DA018307)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
anterior insula, posterior insula, interoception, touch, anticipatory processing, stimulus significance, affective touch, caudate nucleus, anxiety, addiction
MeSH terms
Adult, Brain, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Touch

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