1. Processing of affective and emotionally neutral tactile stimuli in the insular cortex
- Author
-
Håkan Olausson, Göran Starck, and Monika Davidovic
- Subjects
Male ,0301 basic medicine ,daCC, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex ,Neurologi ,VAS, visual analogue scale ,Emotions ,ROI, region of interest ,Insula ,BOLD, blood oxygenation level dependent ,0302 clinical medicine ,GLM, general linear model ,CT, C tactile ,daIC, dorsal anterior insular cortex ,Default mode network ,Cerebral Cortex ,LpIC, left posterior insular cortex ,vaIC, ventral anterior insular cortex ,Brain Mapping ,Anterior insula ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,pCC, posterior cingulate cortex ,Functional connectivity ,fMRI ,lcsh:QP351-495 ,Psychophysiological Interaction ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,Resting state networks ,FEW, family-wise error ,Touch ,Neurology ,RdaIC, right dorsal anterior insular cortex ,behavior and behavior mechanisms ,Female ,IC, insular cortex ,PPI, psychophysiological interaction ,Psychology ,psychological phenomena and processes ,Adult ,vmPFC, ventro medial prefrontal cortex ,pgaCC, pregenual anterior cingulate cortex ,mTG, medial temporal gyrus ,MNI, Montreal Neurological Institute ,Cognitive Neuroscience ,pIC, posterior insular cortex ,Insular cortex ,lfrs, low frequency resting state ,behavioral disciplines and activities ,Article ,Tactile stimuli ,Young Adult ,03 medical and health sciences ,mental disorders ,medicine ,Humans ,CEN, central executive network ,GM, grey matter ,DMN, default mode network ,SN, salience network ,030104 developmental biology ,lcsh:Neurophysiology and neuropsychology ,nervous system ,aIC, anterior insular cortex ,Functional magnetic resonance imaging ,MRI, magnetic resonance imaging ,Neuroscience ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
The insula is important for the processing of pleasant aspects of touch whereas its role in the processing of emotionally neutral touch has been less explored. Here, we used a network approach to investigate the insular processing of pleasant stroking touch and emotionally neutral vibratory touch, analysing functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 23 healthy adult participants. Vibration and skin stroking activated areas in the posterior, middle and anterior insula. Psychophysiological interaction analyses suggested that skin stroking increased functional connectivity between the posterior and ventral anterior insula. Vibration instead increased functional connectivity between the posterior and dorsal anterior insula, and induced a stronger decrease of the default mode network activity compared to stroking. These results confirmed findings from previous studies showing that the posterior insula processes affective touch information. We suggest that this is accomplished by relaying tactile information from the posterior insula to ventral anterior insula, an area tightly connected to the emotional parts of the brain. However, our results also suggested that the insula processes tactile information with less emotional valence. A central hub in this processing seemed to be the right dorsal anterior insula. Keywords: Touch, fMRI, Insula, Resting state networks
- Published
- 2019