The Insular Cortex

Putting feelings into…feelings

The Insular Cortex, known as the insula, is an unusual brain region and one that has had increased interest in recent years. In fact, it can be considered one of the most human areas of the brain having a role at putting feelings into, well, feelings, that is the embodied concept of a feeling from disgust, to pain, to pleasure. Oh, and after some promising research in 2007 it was touted as a potential magical cure for smoking – or at least the related craving.

The insula, I first found to be a fascinating structure because of its location. It indeed looks like a brain within the brain. If you open up the lateral sulcus, which is one of the most obvious splits in the brain, it comes forth appearing as if there is another brain tucked inside the brain. It is not, it is just the internal fold of this fissure. But this location is itself interesting sitting at the boundary of two major lobes and right next to the limbic structures. So, it is surprising that it didn’t get much attention until the 1990s. Part of this was because of its obscure location and it was only the rise in better imaging technologies which would draw attention to the enigmatic insula.