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Abstract:
Long perceived as a primitive and poorly differentiated cortical lobe, the primate insula is in fact a highly evolved, organized and richly connected cortical hub interfacing interoception (bodily states) with sensorimotor, environmental, and limbic activities. This interface likely engenders emotional embodiment and underlies the interoceptive shaping of cognitive processes, including perceptual awareness. Our lab combines several distinct experimental approaches in non-human primates (architectonics, tracing, NET-, DES- and opto-fMRI) to examine the anatomical and functional organization of the insula. Here, we present a novel working model of the insula, based on an accumulation of neuroanatomical and functional evidence obtained in our and other labs. This model proposes that interoceptive afferents that represent the ongoing bodily states are first being received in the granular dorsal fundus of the insula or “primary interoceptive cortex,” then processed serially through dysgranular poly-modal “insular stripes,” and finally integrated in anterior agranular areas that act as an output stage for efferent autonomic regulation. One of the agranular areas hosts the specialized von Economo and Fork neurons, which could provide a pivotal evolutionary advantage for the autonomic and emotional binding inherent to subjective awareness.
