title: The insula is not specifically involved in disgust processing: an fMRI study.
abstract: fMRI studies have shown that the perception of facial disgust expressions specifically activates the insula. The present fMRI study investigated whether this structure is also involved in the processing of visual stimuli depicting non-mimic disgust elicitors compared to fear-inducing and neutral scenes. Twelve female subjects were scanned while viewing alternating blocks of 40 disgust-inducing, 40 fear-inducing and 40 affectively neutral pictures, shown for 1.5 s each. Afterwards, affective ratings were assessed. The disgust pictures, rated as highly repulsive, induced activation in the insula, the amygdala, the orbitofrontal and occipito-temporal cortex. Since during the fear condition the insula was also involved, our findings do not fit the idea of the insula as a specific disgust processor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Physiological Psychology, University of Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10, 35394 Giessen, Germany. anne.schienle@psychol.uni-giessen.de
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schienle
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blecker
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ott
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kirsch
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sammer
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vaitl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology