Abstract
Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) is widely used to examine cerebral functional organization. The imaging literature has described lateralization of insula activations during cognitive and affective processing. Evidence appears to support a role of the right-hemispheric insula in attentional orientation to salient stimulus, interoception, and physiological arousal, and a role of the left-hemispheric insula in cognitive and affective control, as well as perspective taking. In this study, in a large data set of healthy adults, we examined lateralization of the rsFC of the anterior insula (AI) by computing a laterality index (LI) of connectivity with 54 regions from the Automated Anatomic Labeling atlas. At a corrected threshold (p < 0.001), the AI is left lateralized in connectivity with the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, superior frontal gyrus, inferior frontal cortex, and posterior orbital gyrus and right lateralized in connectivity with the postcentral gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and superior parietal lobule. In gender differences, women, but not men, showed right-lateralized connectivity to the thalamus. Furthermore, in a subgroup of participants assessed by the tridimensional personality questionnaire, novelty seeking is correlated with the extent of left lateralization of AI connectivity to the pallidum and putamen in men and with the extent of right lateralization of AI connectivity to the parahippocampal gyrus in women. These findings support hemispheric functional differentiation of the AI.
Highlights
The anterior insula (AI) integrates inputs from cortical and subcortical structures to support emotional and cognitive processes (Craig, 2002, 2009)
The results showed that, at a corrected threshold ( p < 0.05/ 54–0.001), the superior frontal gyrus (SFG), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), posterior orbital gyrus (POrG), and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex showed left lateralization
The results showed a distinct pattern of right lateralization with regions implicated in attention orientation and arousal and left lateralization with regions implicated in cognitive motor control and perspective taking
Summary
The anterior insula (AI) integrates inputs from cortical and subcortical structures to support emotional and cognitive processes (Craig, 2002, 2009). Sympathetic and parasympathetic projections from the ventromedial nucleus of the thalamus are lateralized to the right and left AI, respectively (Craig, 2005). These lateralized projections result in differential autonomic control by the AI, such that direct stimulation of the right and left insula, each produces sympathetic and parasympathetic cardiac effects (Oppenheimer et al, 1992). The left AI responds both when participants smell a disgusting odor and when they observe others smelling the odor (Wicker et al, 2003), with activity increasing to negative valence ratings of stimuli (Caria et al, 2010).
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