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

Federal government websites often end in. The site is secure. Subdivisions within the insula have been identified on the basis of cytoarchitectonics, sulcal landmarks, and connectivity. Depending on the parcellation technique employed, the insula can be divided into anywhere between 2 and 13 distinct subdivisions. The insula subserves a wide variety of functions in humans ranging from sensory and affective processing to high-level cognition. Here we provide a concise summary of known structural and functional features of the human insular cortex with a focus on lesion case studies and recent neuroimaging evidence for considerable functional heterogeneity of this brain region. The insular cortex is located deep within the lateral sulcus of the brain. Traditionally, the insular cortex has been described as paralimbic or limbic integration cortex 1. The insula is mostly surrounded by the peri-insular sulcus, and is divided in two by the central insular sulcus. Though there is some variability in insular gyri number, the more anterior portion of the insula is typically comprised of the anterior, middle, and posterior short insular gyri, which are separated by the anterior and precentral insular sulcus. The posterior portion of the insula is comprised of the anterior and posterior long insular gyri, separated by the postcentral insular sulcus 2 Figure 1.

The anterior insula receives a direct projection from the basal part of the ventral medial nucleus of the thalamus and a particularly large input from the central nucleus of the amygdala, insular cortex. The insular cortex: a review.

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.

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Insular cortex

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. Reil, a German neurologist, first named this brain structure in the early 19 th century.

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Social information processing following resection of the insular cortex. Am J Psychiatry. CiteSeerX The auriculotemporal from CN V3 and zygomaticotemporal from CN V2 nerves represent the somewhat variable sources of overlying superficial sensation of this area. Recent Edits. The insula of the left side, exposed by removing the opercula. Visceral sensations were described as unpleasant feelings of constriction ranging from a simple breathing discomfort to painful paresthesia, and motor responses included borborygmi and vomiting. A number of functional brain imaging studies have shown that the insular cortex is activated when drug users are exposed to environmental cues that trigger cravings. The cerebral cortex processing vestibular sensations extends into the insula, [38] with small lesions in the anterior insular cortex being able to cause loss of balance and vertigo. This may make addicts feel as if their bodies need to use a drug, and may result in persons with lesions in the insula reporting that their bodies have forgotten the urge to use, according to this study. Author: Spinalcord. Functional imaging studies have also implicated the insula in conscious desires, such as food craving and drug craving. Sometimes the brain finds ways to work around and compensate for injuries, and much depends on the severity of the injury, what caused it, quality of treatment, and the age at which the injury occurred.

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Neurosurg Focus. Disadvantages include a need for extensive subarachnoid dissection, the manual distraction of the MCA, and opercular retraction for large lesions. Nat Rev Neurosci. As previously noted, the insula remains one of the least understood cortical structures of the human brain. Sometimes called the insula, insulary lobe, or insulary cortex, this brain region remains something of a mystery. The M3 segment of the MCA travels primarily lateral to the insular cortex and loops around the operculum, supplying the cortex distal to the insula. CiteSeerX Indeed, debate remains over the true epileptogenic origin of insular seizures i. Last revised:. Figure 3: gyri Figure 3: gyri. There is some evidence of true insular epilpetogenic foci provided by video-EEG studies. Functional imaging studies show activation of the insula during audio-visual integration tasks. Using dynamic functional network connectivity dFNC analyses to examine time-varying properties of interactions between insular subdivisions and other brain regions, it has been demonstrated that the dAI exhibits more variable connections than the other insular subdivisions View Rohit Sharma's current disclosures. The insular cortex is divided into two lobules, anterior and posterior, by the central sulcus of the insula, which passes obliquely from posterosuperior to anteroinferior.