Electrical stimulation maps the human insula's functional architecture
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A large stimulation-mapping study led by Josef Parvizi at Stanford University has established a functional architecture of the human insula, linking the region's cellular structure to directed and asymmetric electrophysiological interactions. The researchers delivered electrical stimulation at multiple insular sites in 87 patients with electrodes implanted for medical reasons. They found the posterior insula encodes limb pain, tingling and heat; the middle portion mediates visceral sensations such as nausea and chest tightness; and the anterior portion communicates with cognitive and emotional brain areas and helps interpret bodily sensations. UCLA cognitive neuroscientist Lucina Uddin called it one of the most comprehensive studies of the human insula to date, revising the traditional view that the insula merely passively reads body signals. The team proposes this framework has mechanistic implications for cognitive modulation of pain and interoception.
Written by a model from the reports · updated 3 hours ago
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- NatureFunctional architecture of the human insula
Researchers established a functional architecture of the human insula, linking its cytoarchitecture to directed, asymmetric electrophysiological interactions. They propose that this framework has mechanistic implications for cognitive modulation of pain and interoception.
- NaturePickHuge mapping study reveals how your brain tracks what your body is feeling
Nature reports that Josef Parvizi and colleagues at Stanford University delivered electrical stimulation at multiple insular cortex sites in 87 patients with electrodes implanted for medical reasons. They found the posterior insula encodes limb pain, tingling and heat, the middle part mediates visceral sensations such as nausea and chest tightness, and the anterior part communicates with cognitive and emotional brain regions and helps interpret bodily sensations. Lucina Uddin, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, calls it one of the most comprehensive studies of the human insula to date, overturning the view that the insula only passively reads body signals.
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