Brain
Insula
Island of interoception and self-awareness
Overview
The insula (insular cortex) is a hidden cortical region folded within the lateral sulcus, out of view on the brain surface. It monitors the body's internal state (interoception)—hunger, thirst, heartbeat, pain, temperature—and integrates these signals with emotional and cognitive processes to produce conscious feelings.
Function
- Interoception: sensing internal body states
- Pain processing and empathy for pain
- Taste perception (primary gustatory cortex)
- Emotional salience and disgust responses
- Drug craving and addiction-related processing
Key Facts
- The insula is active during virtually every emotional experience
- It likely mediates the conscious feeling of emotions (unlike just the emotion itself)
- Lesions to the insula can eliminate nicotine cravings instantly
- The insula has expanded in humans relative to other primates