Me, Myself and My Insula: An Oasis in the Forefront of Self-Consciousness

Abstract

The insula is a multiconnected brain region that centralizes a wide range of information, from the most internal bodily states, such as interoception, to high-order processes, such as knowledge about oneself. Therefore, the insula would be a core region involved in the self networks. Over the past decades, the question of the self has been extensively explored, highlighting differences in the descriptions of the various components but also similarities in the global structure of the self. Indeed, most of the researchers consider that the self comprises a phenomenological part and a conceptual part, in the present moment or extending over time. However, the anatomical substrates of the self, and more specifically the link between the insula and the self, remain unclear. We conducted a narrative review to better understand the relationship between the insula and the self and how anatomical and functional damages to the insular cortex can impact the self in various conditions. Our work revealed that the insula is involved in the most primitive levels of the present self and could consequently impact the self extended in time, namely autobiographical memory. Across different pathologies, we propose that insular damage could engender a global collapse of the self.

BOLD signal variability as potential new biomarker of functional neurological disorders

“…The SMA is a key region of the somatomotor network and is involved in motor planning and execution and has been implicated in FND symptom generation (Aybek et al, 2015; Stone et al, 2007 ). Moreover, the insula as an important hub of the salience network has been implicated in various cognitive and affective processes, including interoception ( Haruki and Ogawa, 2021 ), emotion regulation ( Gasquoine, 2014 ), and self-awareness ( Modinos et al, 2009 , Tisserand et al, 2023 ), for which alterations within these cognitive processes have been previously reported in FND ( Sojka et al, 2021 , Sojka et al, 2018 ). Moreover, our previous results derived from the same cohort showed altered insular co-activation patterns with the somatomotor as well as default mode network in FND, which was associated with duration of illness as well as stress biomarkers ( Weber et al, 2024 ).…”

Me, Myself, and I: Neural Activity for Self versus Other across Development

“…Participants underwent an fMRI task session to evaluate their brain activity in response to self-vs.-other stimuli. Three main hypotheses were explored: (1) brain activity related to self-perception: we hypothesized activity for self-vs.-other stimuli in areas associated with adults' self-recognition, including the frontal, parietal, and occipital regions [25], as well as the ACC and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) [34][35][36][37][38]; (2) brain activity related to 'other' perception: We expected increased brain activity elicited within the precuneus and the angular gyrus (temporoparietal junction (TPJ), the superior temporal sulcus (STS), the temporal poles, and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)) as these areas tend to be more active when looking at others compared to oneself [39,40]. Furthermore, we predicted higher activity for stimuli related to others compared to self in the temporal cortex and regions associated with recognizing visual stimuli.…”

Neurobiology of Behavior—Influences of Neuropsychiatric Disorders on Neurobiology and Behavior

“…The article by Tisserand and colleagues [ 10 ] focuses on the role of the insular cortex in self-awareness and provides a comprehensive overview of the anatomical and functional aspects of this brain region. The insula is a highly interconnected region that plays a key role in integrating body-state and self-related information.…”