Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Anterior insula activations in perceptual paradigms: often observed but barely understood

  • Review
  • Published:
Brain Structure and Function Aims and scope Submit manuscript

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amedi A, von Kriegstein K, van Atteveldt NM, Beauchamp MS, Naumer MJ (2005) Functional imaging of human crossmodal identification and object recognition. Exp Brain Res 166:559–571

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Banati RB, Goerres GW, Tjoa C, Aggleton JP, Grasby P (2000) The functional anatomy of visual–tactile integration in man: a study using positron emission tomography. Neuropsychologia 38:115–124

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bartels A, Zeki S (2004) The neural correlates of maternal and romantic love. Neuroimage 21:1155–1166

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beck DM, Rees G, Frith CD, Lavie N (2001) Neural correlates of change detection and change blindness. Nat Neurosci 4:645–650

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Benoit MM, Raij T, Lin FH, Jaaskelainen IP, Stufflebeam S (2009) Primary and multisensory cortical activity is correlated with audiovisual percepts. Hum Brain Mapp 31:526–538

    Google Scholar 

  • Binder JR, Liebenthal E, Possing ET, Medler DA, Ward BD (2004) Neural correlates of sensory and decision processes in auditory object identification. Nat Neurosci 7:295–301

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boly M, Balteau E, Schnakers C, Degueldre C, Moonen G, Luxen A, Phillips C, Peigneux P, Maquet P, Laureys S (2007) Baseline brain activity fluctuations predict somatosensory perception in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:12187–12192

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bushara KO, Grafman J, Hallett M (2001) Neural correlates of auditory–visual stimulus onset asynchrony detection. J Neurosci 21:300–304

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bushara KO, Hanakawa T, Immisch I, Toma K, Kansaku K, Hallett M (2003) Neural correlates of cross-modal binding. Nat Neurosci 6:190–195

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Calvert GA (2001) Crossmodal processing in the human brain: insights from functional neuroimaging studies. Cereb Cortex 11:1110–1123

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carmel D, Lavie N, Rees G (2006) Conscious awareness of flicker in humans involves frontal and parietal cortex. Curr Biol 16:907–911

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Christensen MS, Ramsoy TZ, Lund TE, Madsen KH, Rowe JB (2006) An fMRI study of the neural correlates of graded visual perception. Neuroimage 31:1711–1725

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen L, Dehaene S, Naccache L, Lehericy S, Dehaene-Lambertz G, Henaff MA, Michel F (2000) The visual word form area: spatial and temporal characterization of an initial stage of reading in normal subjects and posterior split-brain patients. Brain 123(Pt 2):291–307

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Corbetta M, Shulman GL (2002) Control of goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention in the brain. Nat Rev Neurosci 3:201–215

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Craig AD (2002) How do you feel? Interoception: the sense of the physiological condition of the body. Nat Rev Neurosci 3:655–666

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Craig AD (2009) How do you feel––now? The anterior insula and human awareness. Nat Rev Neurosci 10:59–70

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Critchley HD (2005) Neural mechanisms of autonomic, affective, and cognitive integration. J Comp Neurol 493:154–166

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Curtis CE, D’Esposito M (2003) Persistent activity in the prefrontal cortex during working memory. Trends Cogn Sci 7:415–423

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Damasio AR (2003) Looking for Spinoza: joy, sorrow, and the feeling brain. Hartcourt, Orlando

    Google Scholar 

  • de Vignemont F, Singer T (2006) The empathic brain: how, when and why? Trends Cogn Sci 10:435–441

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Deary IJ, Simonotto E, Meyer M, Marshall A, Marshall I, Goddard N, Wardlaw JM (2004) The functional anatomy of inspection time: an event-related fMRI study. Neuroimage 22:1466–1479

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dehaene S, Naccache L, Cohen L, Bihan DL, Mangin JF, Poline JB, Riviere D (2001) Cerebral mechanisms of word masking and unconscious repetition priming. Nat Neurosci 4:752–758

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dosenbach NUF, Visscher KM, Palmer ED, Miezin FM, Wenger KK, Kang HC, Burgund ED, Grimes AL, Schlaggar BL, Petersen SE (2006) A core system for the implementation of task sets. Neuron 50:799–812

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dosenbach NUF, Fair DA, Miezin FM, Cohen AL, Wenger KK, Dosenbach RAT, Fox MD, Snyder AZ, Vincent JL, Raichle ME, Schlaggar BL, Petersen SE (2007) Distinct brain networks for adaptive and stable task control in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:11073–11078

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Downar J, Crawley AP, Mikulis DJ, Davis KD (2000) A multimodal cortical network for the detection of changes in the sensory environment. Nat Neurosci 3:277–283

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eckert MA, Menon V, Walczak A, Ahlstrom J, Denslow S, Horwitz A, Dubno JR (2009) At the heart of the ventral attention system: the right anterior insula. Hum Brain Mapp 30:2530–2541

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberger NI, Lieberman MD, Williams KD (2003) Does rejection hurt? An FMRI study of social exclusion. Science 302:290–292

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fox MD, Raichle ME (2007) Spontaneous fluctuations in brain activity observed with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Nat Rev Neurosci 8:700–711

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fox MD, Snyder AZ, Vincent JL, Raichle ME (2007) Intrinsic fluctuations within cortical systems account for intertrial variability in human behavior. Neuron 56:171–184

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Friston KJ, Harrison L, Penny W (2003) Dynamic causal modelling. Neuroimage 19:1273–1302

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Giraud AL, Kell C, Thierfelder C, Sterzer P, Russ MO, Preibisch C, Kleinschmidt A (2004) Contributions of sensory input, auditory search and verbal comprehension to cortical activity during speech processing. Cereb Cortex 14:247–255

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goebel R, Roebroeck A, Kim DS, Formisano E (2003) Investigating directed cortical interactions in time-resolved fMRI data using vector autoregressive modeling and Granger causality mapping. Magn Reson Imaging 21:1251–1261

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gold JI, Shadlen MN (2007) The neural basis of decision making. Annu Rev Neurosci 30:535–574

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grinband J, Hirsch J, Ferrera VP (2006) A neural representation of categorization uncertainty in the human brain. Neuron 49:757–763

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hadjikhani N, Roland PE (1998) Cross-modal transfer of information between the tactile and the visual representations in the human brain: a positron emission tomographic study. J Neurosci 18:1072–1084

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heekeren HR, Marrett S, Ungerleider LG (2008) The neural systems that mediate human perceptual decision making. Nat Rev Neurosci 9:467–479

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heimer L, Van Hoesen GW (2006) The limbic lobe and its output channels: implications for emotional functions and adaptive behavior. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 30:126–147

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hesselmann G, Kell CA, Kleinschmidt A (2008a) Ongoing activity fluctuations in hMT+ bias the perception of coherent visual motion. J Neurosci 28:14481–14485

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hesselmann G, Kell CA, Eger E, Kleinschmidt A (2008b) Spontaneous local variations in ongoing neural activity bias perceptual decisions. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:10984–10989

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ho TC, Brown S, Serences JT (2009) Domain general mechanisms of perceptual decision making in human cortex. J Neurosci 29:8675–8687

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ivanoff J, Branning P, Marois R (2009) Mapping the pathways of information processing from sensation to action in four distinct sensorimotor tasks. Hum Brain Mapp 30:4167–4186

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jabbi M, Swart M, Keysers C (2007) Empathy for positive and negative emotions in the gustatory cortex. Neuroimage 34:1744–1753

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kikyo H, Ohki K, Miyashita Y (2002) Neural correlates for feeling-of-knowing: an fMRI parametric analysis. Neuron 36:177–186

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kleinschmidt A, Buchel C, Hutton C, Friston KJ, Frackowiak RS (2002) The neural structures expressing perceptual hysteresis in visual letter recognition. Neuron 34:659–666

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kosillo P, Smith AT (2010) The role of the human anterior insular cortex in time processing. Brain Struct Funct. doi:10.1007/s00429-010-0267-8

  • Lumer L, Rees G (1999) Covariation of activity in visual and prefrontal cortex associated with subjective visual perception. Proc Natl Acad Sci 96:1669–1673

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Makeig S, Inlow M (1993) Lapses in alertness: coherence of fluctuations in performance and EEG spectrum. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 86:23–35

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Manes F, Paradiso S, Springer JA, Lamberty G, Robinson RG (1999) Neglect after right insular cortex infarction. Stroke 30:946–948

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marois R, Chun MM, Gore JC (2000) Neural correlates of the attentional blink. Neuron 28:299–308

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marois R, Yi DJ, Chun MM (2004) The neural fate of consciously perceived and missed events in the attentional blink. Neuron 41:465–472

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McGurk H, MacDonald J (1976) Hearing lips and seeing voices. Nature 264:746–748

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mesulam MM, Mufson EJ (1982) Insula of the old world monkey III: efferent cortical output and comments on function. J Comp Neurol 212:38–52

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller LM, D’Esposito M (2005) Perceptual fusion and stimulus coincidence in the cross-modal integration of speech. J Neurosci 25:5884–5893

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mufson EJ, Mesulam MM (1982) Insula of the old world monkey II: afferent cortical input and comments on the claustrum. J Comp Neurol 212:23–37

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muller TJ, Federspiel A, Horn H, Lovblad K, Lehmann C, Dierks T, Strik WK (2005) The neurophysiological time pattern of illusionary visual perceptual transitions: a simultaneous EEG and fMRI study. Int J Psychophysiol 55:299–312

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson SM, Dosenbach NUF, Cohen AL, Schlaggar BL, Petersen SE (2010) Role of the anterior insula in task-level control and focal attention. Brain Struct Funct. doi:10.1007/s00429-010-0260-2

  • Penfield W, Faulk ME Jr (1955) The insula; further observations on its function. Brain 78:445–470

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pessoa L, Padmala S (2005) Quantitative prediction of perceptual decisions during near-threshold fear detection. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:5612–5617

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pessoa L, Padmala S (2007) Decoding near-threshold perception of fear from distributed single-trial brain activation. Cereb Cortex 17:691–701

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peyron R, Laurent B, Garcia-Larrea L (2000) Functional imaging of brain responses to pain. A review, meta-analysis (2000). Neurophysiol Clin 30:263–288

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Philiastides MG, Sajda P (2007) EEG-informed fMRI reveals spatiotemporal characteristics of perceptual decision making. J Neurosci 27:13082–13091

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ploran EJ, Nelson SM, Velanova K, Donaldson DI, Petersen SE, Wheeler ME (2007) Evidence accumulation and the moment of recognition: dissociating perceptual recognition processes using fMRI. J Neurosci 27:11912–11924

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rees G (2007) Neural correlates of the contents of visual awareness in humans. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 362:877–886

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ridderinkhof KR, van den Wildenberg WP, Segalowitz SJ, Carter CS (2004) Neurocognitive mechanisms of cognitive control: the role of prefrontal cortex in action selection, response inhibition, performance monitoring, and reward-based learning. Brain Cogn 56:129–140

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sadaghiani S, Hesselmann G, Kleinschmidt A (2009) Distributed and antagonistic contributions of ongoing activity fluctuations to auditory stimulus detection. J Neurosci 29:13410–13417

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sahraie A, Weiskrantz L, Barbur JL, Simmons A, Williams SC, Brammer MJ (1997) Pattern of neuronal activity associated with conscious and unconscious processing of visual signals. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94:9406–9411

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saper CB (2002) The central autonomic nervous system: conscious visceral perception and autonomic pattern generation. Annu Rev Neurosci 25:433–469

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seeley WW, Menon V, Schatzberg AF, Keller J, Glover GH, Kenna H, Reiss AL, Greicius MD (2007) Dissociable intrinsic connectivity networks for salience processing and executive control. J Neurosci 27:2349–2356

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sekuler R, Sekuler AB, Lau R (1997) Sound alters visual motion perception. Nature 385:308

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith SM, Fox PT, Miller KL, Glahn DC, Fox PM, Mackay CE, Filippini N, Watkins KE, Toro R, Laird AR, Beckmann CF (2009) Correspondence of the brain’s functional architecture during activation and rest. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:13040–13045

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sporns O, Honey CJ, Kotter R (2007) Identification and classification of hubs in brain networks. PLoS One 2:e1049

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sridharan D, Levitin DJ, Menon V (2008) A critical role for the right fronto-insular cortex in switching between central-executive and default-mode networks. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:12569–12574

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sterzer P, Kleinschmidt A (2007) A neural basis for inference in perceptual ambiguity. Proc Natl Acad Sci 104:323–328

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sterzer P, Stadler C, Poustka F, Kleinschmidt A (2007) A structural neural deficit in adolescents with conduct disorder and its association with lack of empathy. Neuroimage 37:335–342

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sterzer P, Kleinschmidt A, Rees G (2009) The neural bases of multistable perception. Trends Cogn Sci 13:310–318

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sturm W, Longoni F, Fimm B, Dietrich T, Weis S, Kemna S, Herzog H, Willmes K (2004) Network for auditory intrinsic alertness: a PET study. Neuropsychologia 42:563–568

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor KS, Seminowicz DA, Davis KD (2009) Two systems of resting state connectivity between the insula and cingulate cortex. Hum Brain Mapp 30:2731–2745

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thielscher A, Pessoa L (2007) Neural correlates of perceptual choice and decision making during fear–disgust discrimination. J Neurosci 27:2908–2917

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vincent JL, Kahn I, Snyder AZ, Raichle ME, Buckner RL (2008) Evidence for a frontoparietal control system revealed by intrinsic functional connectivity. J Neurophysiol 100:3328–3342

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Sepideh Sadaghiani for helpful comments on the manuscript. AK received support from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (SPONTACT grant) and PS from the German Research Foundation (Emmy-Noether Programme).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Visual Perception Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Charité Campus Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Philipp Sterzer

  2. INSERM Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Gif/Yvette cedex, France

    Andreas Kleinschmidt

  3. CEA, DSV I2BM, NeuroSpin, Gif/Yvette cedex, France

    Andreas Kleinschmidt

Authors
  1. Philipp Sterzer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andreas Kleinschmidt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Philipp Sterzer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sterzer, P., Kleinschmidt, A. Anterior insula activations in perceptual paradigms: often observed but barely understood. Brain Struct Funct 214, 611–622 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-010-0252-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-010-0252-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation