ReviewNeuropharmacology2021
Better living through understanding the insula: Why subregions can make all the difference.
Review in Neuropharmacology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 70 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
70 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 117 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evidence for domain-general arousal from semantic and neuroimaging meta-analyses reconciles opposing views on arousal.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Pooled it
- Bad habits-good goals? Meta-analysis and translation of the habit construct to alcoholism.Translational psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Resting-state functional connectivity and alexithymia: Preliminary predictive evidence.Journal of affective disorders · 2026Article
- The Role of Anterior Insular Parvalbumin GABAergic Interneurons in Impulsivity-Related and Alcohol-Seeking Behaviors.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Comparative insights into insula structure and function.Nature neuroscience · 2026Review
- Neurodegenerative-related gene rescue in anterior insula after early life maltreatment restores adult social interaction in male mice.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Insular routing to orbitofrontal cortex enables breathing awareness.Science advances · 2026Article
- Insular Somatostatin Interneurons Are Targeted by Motor Cortex Efferents and Modulate Affective States.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Article
- Association of stress-sensitive mid-insula activity with alcohol drinking and negative affect-like behavior during abstinence in mice.Neuropharmacology · 2026Article
- Shifts in attentional demand are accompanied by sex-specific patterns of insula-frontal cortical interactions in mice.NeuroImage · 2026Article
- Convergent and selective representations of pain, appetitive processes, aversive processes, and cognitive control in the insula.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Age-varying distinct neuroanatomy in young children with autism spectrum disorder and fragile X syndrome.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Apathy linked to higher amyloid burden and cognitive deterioration in Parkinson's disease.Journal of Parkinson's disease · 2025Observational
- The relationship between interoception of breathing, anxiety, and resting-state functional connectivity in the brain.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- The persistent effects of exposure to a predator odor stressor on sensitivity to alcohol.Addiction neuroscience · 2025Article
- Altered auditory attention and functional connectivity in the auditory cortex of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Twenty-Four Hour Rest-Activity Rhythm Disturbances and Neural Alterations Associated With Emotion Regulation in Shift Workers.Journal of sleep research · 2025Article
- Insular routing to orbitofrontal cortex enables breathing awareness.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Merkel cell stimulation in fear and sensory signaling.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Rewiring the Brain Through the Gut: Insights into Microbiota-Nervous System Interactions.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Review
10 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Insula function is considered critical for many motivated behaviors, with proposed functions ranging from attention, behavioral control, emotional regulation, goal-directed and aversion-resistant responding. Further, the insula is implicated in many neuropsychiatric conditions including substance abuse. More recently, multiple insula subregions have been distinguished based on anatomy, connectivity, and functional contributions. Generally, posterior insula is thought to encode more somatosensory inputs, which integrate with limbic/emotional information in middle insula, that in turn integrate with cognitive processes in anterior insula. Together, these regions provide rapid interoceptive information about the current or predicted situation, facilitating autonomic recruitment and quick, flexible action. Here, we seek to create a robust foundation from which to understand potential subregion differences, and provide direction for future studies. We address subregion differences across humans and rodents, so that the latter's mechanistic interventions can best mesh with clinical relevance of human conditions. We first consider the insula's suggested roles in humans, then compare subregional studies, and finally describe rodent work. One primary goal is to encourage precision in describing insula subregions, since imprecision (e.g. including both posterior and anterior studies when describing insula work) does a disservice to a larger understanding of insula contributions. Additionally, we note that specific task details can greatly impact recruitment of various subregions, requiring care and nuance in design and interpretation of studies. Nonetheless, the central ethological importance of the insula makes continued research to uncover mechanistic, mood, and behavioral contributions of paramount importance and interest. This article is part of the special Issue on 'Neurocircuitry Modulating Drug and Alcohol Abuse'.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.