Microstructural organization of human insula is linked to its macrofunctional circuitry and predicts cognitive control.

Vinod Menon,Guillermo Gallardo,Jing-Rebecca Li,Demian Wassermann,Weidong Cai,Van-Dang Nguyen,Mark A Pinsk

doi:10.7554/elife.53470

Abstract

The human insular cortex is a heterogeneous brain structure which plays an integrative role in guiding behavior. The cytoarchitectonic organization of the human insula has been investigated over the last century using postmortem brains but there has been little progress in noninvasive in vivo mapping of its microstructure and large-scale functional circuitry. Quantitative modeling of multi-shell diffusion MRI data from 413 participants revealed that human insula microstructure differs significantly across subdivisions that serve distinct cognitive and affective functions. Insular microstructural organization was mirrored in its functionally interconnected circuits with the anterior cingulate cortex that anchors the salience network, a system important for adaptive switching of cognitive control systems. Furthermore, insular microstructural features, confirmed in Macaca mulatta, were linked to behavior and predicted individual differences in cognitive control ability. Our findings open new possibilities for probing psychiatric and neurological disorders impacted by insular cortex dysfunction, including autism, schizophrenia, and fronto-temporal dementia.

Highlights

The human insular cortex plays a critical role in identifying salient sensory, affective, and cognitive cues for guiding attention and behavior (Nieuwenhuys, 2012; Menon and Uddin, 2010; Uddin, 2015; Craig, 2009)
To determine whether Return to Origin Probability (RTOP) values differed among the three insular subdivisions, we conducted an ANOVA with factors subdivision and hemisphere
We leveraged recent advances in diffusion weighted imaging of gray matter and large high-quality samples from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) to investigate the microstructural properties of the insular cortex and its macrofunctional circuits associated with the salience network

Summary

Introduction

The human insular cortex plays a critical role in identifying salient sensory, affective, and cognitive cues for guiding attention and behavior (Nieuwenhuys, 2012; Menon and Uddin, 2010; Uddin, 2015; Craig, 2009). It is one of the most widely activated brain regions in all of human neuroimaging research (Cai et al, 2014; Swick et al, 2011; Levy and Wagner, 2011). Little is known about the normative microstructural organization of the human insular cortex and its relation to behavior.

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Discussion

Conclusion