Increased insula coactivation with salience networks in insomnia
Michael C Chen1, Catie Chang2, Gary H Glover3
1Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States; Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States.
Biological Psychology
|January 14, 2014
Summary
Insomnia patients show increased anterior insula activity linked to negative emotions, potentially explaining poor sleep perception. This brain region
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Sleep Medicine
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Insomnia is a common and costly sleep disorder.
- Understanding the neural basis of subjective sleep dysfunction is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural mechanisms of subjective dysfunction in insomnia.
- To characterize brain activity in insomniacs compared to healthy controls.
Main Methods:
- Simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) were used.
- Brain activity was recorded during rest and attempted sleep in 17 female insomniacs and 17 female healthy controls.
Main Results:
- Insomniacs exhibited greater anterior insula involvement with salience networks compared to controls.
- Increased anterior insula BOLD correlation with EEG gamma frequency power was observed in insomniacs during rest.
- This heightened anterior insula activity correlated with negative affect in insomniacs.
Conclusions:
- Aberrant activation of the anterior insula within arousal networks may contribute to the misperception of sleep quality and subjective distress in insomnia.
- The insula's role in integrating bodily and temporal states is implicated in insomnia's neural underpinnings.
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