title: The brain network for self-feeling: a symptom-lesion mapping study.
abstract: Ongoing signals from one's own body (interoception) allow experience of self-feeling. In early studies interoception strictly referred to the awareness of visceral sensation but recent theories have expanded this concept to denote the ongoing status of the body. Here we asked left and right focal brain-damaged patients to answer questions about their interoceptive feelings, and correlated their responses to a quantitative measure of their lesions (voxel-based symptom-lesion mapping). By these means we could reveal that three key structures contribute to building up the feeling of self, namely insula (interoceptive modulator), amygdala (emotional modulator) and putamen (motor modulator). This brain network may be necessary for the integrity of self-feeling. A dysfunction of this network might impair perception of the inner body state, and also account for psychological disturbances, such as the somatic symptom disorders, in which individuals experience subjective symptoms suggesting physical illness or injury despite medical test results which are normal, and clinical examination do not disclose relevant medical conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Viale Ellittico 31, 81100 Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grossi
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Vita
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy; Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Liana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Palermo
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Sabatini
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Viale Ellittico 31, 81100 Caserta, Italy. Electronic address: luigi.trojano@unina2.it.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Trojano
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy; Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guariglia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000150:complications; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D065812:Interoception / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D011699:Putamen / Q000502:physiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Brain lesion; Insula; Interoception; Limbic system; Putamen