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Published on: May 19, 2015
Involvement of insula and cingulate cortices in control and suppression of natural urges
Alicja Lerner1, Anto Bagic, Takashi Hanakawa
1Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. lernera@mail.nih.gov
Abstract:
The physiology of control and suppression of natural urges is not well understood. We used [(15)O]H(2)O positron-emission tomography imaging to identify neural circuits involved in suppression of spontaneous blinking as a model of normal urges. Suppression of blinking was associated with prominent activation of bilateral insular-claustrum regions, right more than left; activation was also found in bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), supplementary motor areas, and the face area of the primary motor cortex bilaterally. These results suggest a central role for the insula possibly together with ACC in suppression of blinking.
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