Anterior insula regulates brain network transitions that gate conscious access

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Brain Imaging

Background:

• Conscious access to sensory information is regulated by an unknown brain region.
• This region is hypothesized to be an intermediate site between primary sensory and transmodal association cortices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify the neural correlates of conscious access.
• To investigate the role of the anterior insular cortex (AIC) in regulating brain networks for conscious awareness.

Main Methods:

• Functional neuroimaging in healthy volunteers.
• Volitional mental imagery task with propofol-induced loss of responsiveness.
• Analysis of dynamic transitions in default-mode and dorsal attention networks.

Main Results:

• Propofol-induced AIC dysfunction correlated with impaired dynamic network transitions.
• Candidate subcortical regions (thalamus, basal forebrain) did not show this association.
• Pre-stimulus AIC activity predicted conscious access in awake participants.

Conclusions:

• The anterior insular cortex (AIC) plays a critical role in gating conscious access.
• AIC regulates brain network transitions essential for sensory information processing.
• AIC's position in the cortical hierarchy supports its function as a sensory gate.