Does the insula contribute to emotion‐related distortion of time? A neuropsychological approach

Abstract

The literature points to a large distributed brain network involved in the estimation of time.Among these regions, the role of the insular cortex is still poorly understood. At the confluence of emotional, interoceptive, and environmental signals, this brain structure has been proposed to underlie awareness of the passage of time and emotion related time dilation. Yet, this assumption has not been tested so far. This study aimed at exploring how a lesion of the insula affects subjective duration, either in an emotional context or in a non-emotional context.Twenty-one patients with a stroke affecting the insula, either left or right, were studied for their perception of sub and supra second durations. A verbal estimation task and a temporal bisection task were used with either pure tones or neutral and emotional sounds lasting between 300 and 1500 ms and presented monaurally. Results revealed that patients with a right insular lesion, showed less temporal sensitivity than both control participants and patients with a left insular lesion. Unexpectedly, emotional effects were similar in patients and control participants. Altogether, these results suggest a specific role of the right insula in the discrimination of durations, but not in emotion related temporal distortion. In addition, an ear × emotion interaction in control participants suggests that temporal processing of positive and negative sounds may be lateralized in the brain. K E Y W O R D S emotion, insula, time estimation

Awareness of the passage of time and self‐consciousness: What do meditators report?

“…This idea is defended in the theory of the embodiment of time (Droit‐Volet, ; Effron, Niedenthal, Gil, & Droit‐Volet, ; Wittmann, ), with the insula—an interoceptive region (Craig, )—playing a critical role in duration judgments (Wittmann, van Wassenhove, Craig, & Paulus, ). However, there is no consensus in the literature concerning the key role of the insula in the different forms of time judgments (see Mella et al, ), and the direct link between physiological activity and time judgments has not yet been clearly established, although numerous studies have already shown the effects of the increase of arousal on the judgment of physical durations, namely in emotional contexts (Droit‐Volet, ). Nevertheless, we can agree on the fact that the awareness of the self‐duration is related to the awareness of the embodied self, with a critical role of the insula (Craig, ), but these judgments at the consciousness level are not based on the same mechanisms as those involved in the judgment of short physical durations.…”

Time perception changes in stroke patients: A systematic literature review

“…Moreover, lesions in the mediodorsal nuclei are associated with a decrease in cerebral blood flow in cortical areas, most notably the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (39, 54), an essential region in time perception circuits. The insula is also involved in the time perception circuit (43,55). Both the anterior portion and posterior part of the insula have been implicated in time perception tasks, with the posterior part being more involved in the encoding phase of time perception tasks and the anterior part more involved in the reproduction phase where an explicit judgment of duration is made (49,56).…”

“…We found time perception deficits to be slightly more common in strokes affecting the right hemisphere (219 vs. 199 in the left hemisphere). Numerous locations were associated with time perception deficits, namely the thalamus ( 38 – 41 ), insula ( 43 ), basal ganglia ( 42 ), cerebellum ( 21 – 25 ) and cortical structures (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex ( 24 , 25 , 27 , 28 , 32 , 36 , 44 , 47 ), parietal cortex ( 32 , 36 , 44 – 47 ), including supramarginal ( 26 , 28 , 33 ) and angular gyri ( 28 ), temporal cortex ( 26 , 32 , 36 , 46 , 47 ). These locations correspond to those commonly reported in time perception studies with functional brain MRI in healthy participants ( 5 , 49 ).…”

“…The insula is also involved in the time perception circuit ( 43 , 55 ). Both the anterior portion and posterior part of the insula have been implicated in time perception tasks, with the posterior part being more involved in the encoding phase of time perception tasks and the anterior part more involved in the reproduction phase where an explicit judgment of duration is made ( 49 , 56 ).…”

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“…We found time perception deficits to be slightly more common in strokes affecting the right hemisphere (219 vs. 199 in the left hemisphere). Numerous locations were associated with time perception deficits, namely the thalamus (38)(39)(40)(41), insula (43), basal ganglia (42), cerebellum (21-25) and cortical structures (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (24,25,27,28,32,36,44,47), parietal cortex (32, 36, 44-47), including supramarginal (26,28,33) and angular gyri (28), temporal cortex (26,32,36,46,47). These locations correspond to those commonly reported in time perception studies with functional brain MRI in healthy participants (5,49).…”