How do you feel--now? The anterior insula and human awareness.
The anterior insular cortex (AIC) is implicated in a wide range of conditions and behaviours, from bowel distension and orgasm, to cigarette craving and maternal love, to decision making and sudden insight. Its function in the re-representation of interoception offers one possible basis for its involvement in all subjective feelings. New findings suggest a fundamental role for the AIC (and the von Economo neurons it contains) in awareness, and thus it needs to be considered as a potential neural correlate of consciousness.
Craig
A D Bud
AD
Atkinson Research Laboratory, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona 85013, USA. bcraig@chw.edu
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation