Anterior insular cortex stimulation and its effects on emotion recognition
Kazuya Motomura1, Yuri Terasawa2, Atsushi Natsume3
1Department of Neurosurgery, Nagoya University School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan. kmotomura@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp.
Brain Structure & Function
|June 7, 2019
Summary
Electrical stimulation of the anterior insular cortex enhanced anger recognition. However, surgery on the insular lobe impaired anger recognition while improving sadness recognition, suggesting the insula
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neurology
Background:
- The insular cortex plays a crucial role in interoception and emotional processing.
- Understanding the insula's specific function in emotion recognition is vital for neurological and psychiatric conditions.
- Previous research has implicated the insula in various emotional experiences, but its precise role in recognizing specific emotions requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of the anterior insular cortex in recognizing emotions, specifically anger and sadness.
- To examine the effects of direct electrical stimulation of the insula on emotion recognition during awake surgery.
- To correlate brain lesions in the insular lobe with deficits in emotion recognition using voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM).
Main Methods:
- Direct electrical stimulation of the anterior insular cortex in 18 patients undergoing awake surgery for insular lobe tumors.
- Administration of an emotional sensitivity task measuring facial expression recognition before, during, and after surgery.
- Voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM) to associate lesion locations with emotion recognition deficits.
Main Results:
- Direct electrical stimulation of the anterior insular cortex significantly enhanced the recognition of anger (p < 0.05).
- Post-surgery, patients showed impaired anger recognition (p < 0.01) but improved sadness recognition (p < 0.01) compared to pre-surgery performance.
- VLSM identified an association between lesions in the left insula and reduced accuracy in anger recognition.
Conclusions:
- The anterior insular cortex is directly involved in the recognition of anger.
- Surgical interventions affecting the insular lobe can alter the recognition of both anger and sadness, potentially by modulating arousal levels.
- Findings highlight the insula's critical role in emotion processing and its connection to interoception.
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