Dissociable large-scale networks anchored in the right anterior insula subserve affective experience and attention - PubMed (original) (raw)

Dissociable large-scale networks anchored in the right anterior insula subserve affective experience and attention

Alexandra Touroutoglou et al. Neuroimage. 2012.

Abstract

Meta-analytic summaries of neuroimaging studies point to at least two major functional-anatomic subdivisions within the anterior insula that contribute to the detection and processing of salient information: a dorsal region that is routinely active during attention tasks and a ventral region that is routinely active during affective experience. In two independent samples of cognitively normal human adults, we used intrinsic functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging to demonstrate that the right dorsal and right ventral anterior insula are nodes in separable large-scale functional networks. Furthermore, stronger intrinsic connectivity within the right dorsal anterior insula network was associated with better performance on a task involving attention and processing speed whereas stronger connectivity within the right ventral anterior insula network was associated with more intense affective experience. These results support the hypothesis that the identification and manipulation of salient information is subserved by at least two brain networks anchored in the right anterior insula that exhibit distinct large-scale topography and dissociable behavioral correlates.

Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: No conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, are declared by the authors

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

In the exploratory analyses performed using Sample 1, the right dorsal anterior insula seed (dAIseed, blue) and right ventral anterior insula seed (vAIseed, red) (A) have distinct patterns of intrinsic functional connectivity at z(r) > 0.2; (B and C) regions that preferentially correlate with the right dAIseed are shown in blue, regions that preferentially correlate with the right vAIseed are shown in red, and regions that correlate with both seeds are shown in purple. For display purposes, the binarized correlation maps, z(r) > 0.2, were upsampled (interpolated) to 1mm and overlaid on the 1mm MNI152 T1-standard template image in FSL and on (D) the inflated cortical surfaces of the left and right hemisphere (the fsaverage template in FreeSurfer).

Figure 2

Figure 2

The distributions of within- and between-network connectivity for each ROI pair in both samples. The central tendencies of the connectivity distributions between the right dAIseed and the dAItargets (blue) and between the right vAIseed and the dAItargets (green) in Sample 1 (A1) and Sample 2 (A2) are not overlapping. Similarly, the central tendencies of the connectivity distributions between the right vAIseed and the vAItargets (red) and between the right dAIseed and the vAItargets (green) are non-overlapping in Sample 1 (B1) and Sample 2 (B2). ROI pairs that are present in both the right dAI and right vAI networks are indicated in shaded bars.

Figure 3

Figure 3

The confirmatory analysis performed using Sample 2 shows that the (A) right dAIseed and right vAIseed (shown in blue and red, respectively) have distinct patterns of intrinsic functional connectivity at z(r) > 0.2; (B and C) regions that preferentially correlate with right dAIseed are shown in blue, regions that preferentially correlate with right vAIseed are shown in red, and regions that correlate with both seeds are shown in purple; (D) the distinct patterns of connectivity of the right dAIseed and right vAIseed at z(r) > 0.2 are displayed on the lateral and medial inflated surfaces of the left and right hemisphere. Details of the method of display are the same as in Figure 1.

Figure 4

Figure 4

The three summary connectivity measures within the right dAI network (blue) and the right vAI network (red). The within network correlation coefficients are higher than the between network correlation coefficients as demonstrated by the connectivity measures in Sample 1 (A1, B1, and C1) and in Sample 2 (A2, B2, and C2).

Figure 5

Figure 5

Behavioral correlates of the strength of connectivity within right dAI and right vAI networks. The strength of connectivity between right dAIseed and its target region in dACC/paracingulate region correlated inversely with (A) Trail Making Test B Time (p < 0.05) but not with arousal ratings to evocative negative images (p = 0.3). The strength of connectivity between right vAIseed and its target region in pgACC region had no relationship with (C) Trail Making Test B Time (p = 0.51) but, instead, correlated directly with (D) the arousal ratings to evocative negative images (p < 0.05).

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