Disgust sensitivity predicts the insula and pallidal response to pictures of disgusting foods.
Abstract
The anterior insula has been implicated in coding disgust from facial, pictorial and olfactory cues, and in the experience of this emotion. Personality research has shown considerable variation in individuals' trait propensity to experience disgust ('disgust sensitivity'). Our study explored the neural expression of this trait, and demonstrates that individual variation in disgust sensitivity is significantly correlated with participants' ventroanterior insular response to viewing pictures of disgusting, but not appetizing or bland, foods. Similar correlations were also seen in the pallidum and orofacial regions of motor and somatosensory cortices. Our results also accord with comparative research showing an anterior to posterior gradient in the rat pallidum reflecting increased 'liking' of foods [Smith, K. S. and Berridge, K. C. (2005) J. Neurosci., 25, 849-8637].
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Human neuroimaging studies of disgust have often implicated the insula in cortex and subcortical striatal circuitry, which can include the nucleus accumbens.
“Human neuroimaging studies of disgust have often implicated the insula in cortex and subcortical striatal circuitry (which can include the nucleus accumbens) (Calder et al., 2007; Chapman and Anderson, 2012).”
From Evolving Concepts of Emotion and Motivation (2018) · cites this paper as Calder et al., 2007
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- Authors
- Calder, A. J., Beaver, J. D., Davis, M. H., Van Ditzhuijzen, J., Keane, J., & Lawrence, A. D.
- Affiliations
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (GB)
- ORCID
- Lawrence, Andrew D.
- Venue
- European Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2007-06
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 3422-3428
- ISSN
- 0953-816X (ISSN-L)
- 1460-9568
- OpenAlex
- W1953281406
- Cited by
- 154
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 4.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- European Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Cambridge
- Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Keywords
- disgust sensitivity, anterior insula, globus pallidus, food disgust, individual differences, neural correlates of emotion, somatosensory cortex, food liking
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Brain Mapping, Emotions, Female, Food, Globus Pallidus, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Oxygen, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Photic Stimulation, Temporal Lobe
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