TY - JOUR
T1 - Emotional and social behaviors elicited by electrical stimulation of the insula in the macaque monkey
AU - Caruana, Fausto
AU - Jezzini, Ahmad
AU - Sbriscia-Fioretti, Beatrice
AU - Rizzolatti, Giacomo
AU - Gallese, Vittorio
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by Italian Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca and by EU contract 027017, Neuroprobes. We thank Ivilin Stoianov for his most valuable technical support on EKG analysis and Stefano Rozzi, Marzio Gerbella, and Elena Borra for the technical support on the histological analysis. We also thank Pier Francesco Ferrari, Corrado Sinigaglia, and Patricia Gough for their most helpful comments on previous versions of this paper.
PY - 2011/2/8
Y1 - 2011/2/8
N2 - Evidence from a large number of brain imaging studies has shown that, in humans, the insula, and especially its anterior part, is involved in emotions and emotion recognition [1-8]. Typically, however, these studies revealed that, besides the insula, a variety of other cortical and subcortical areas are also active. Brain imaging studies are correlative in nature, and, as such, they cannot give indications about the necessary contribution of the different centers involved in emotions. In the present study, we aimed to define more clearly the role of the insula in emotional and social behavior of the monkey by stimulating it electrically. Using this technique, one may determine whether direct activation of the insula can produce specific emotional or social behaviors and exactly which parts of this structure are responsible for these behaviors. The results showed that two emotional behaviors, a basic one (disgust) and a social one (affiliative state), were easily elicited by electrical stimulation of specific parts of the insula. Both behaviors were characterized by specific motor and vegetative responses and by a dramatic change in the monkey's responsiveness to external stimuli.
AB - Evidence from a large number of brain imaging studies has shown that, in humans, the insula, and especially its anterior part, is involved in emotions and emotion recognition [1-8]. Typically, however, these studies revealed that, besides the insula, a variety of other cortical and subcortical areas are also active. Brain imaging studies are correlative in nature, and, as such, they cannot give indications about the necessary contribution of the different centers involved in emotions. In the present study, we aimed to define more clearly the role of the insula in emotional and social behavior of the monkey by stimulating it electrically. Using this technique, one may determine whether direct activation of the insula can produce specific emotional or social behaviors and exactly which parts of this structure are responsible for these behaviors. The results showed that two emotional behaviors, a basic one (disgust) and a social one (affiliative state), were easily elicited by electrical stimulation of specific parts of the insula. Both behaviors were characterized by specific motor and vegetative responses and by a dramatic change in the monkey's responsiveness to external stimuli.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79651468984&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cub.2010.12.042
DO - 10.1016/j.cub.2010.12.042
M3 - Article
C2 - 21256020
AN - SCOPUS:79651468984
VL - 21
SP - 195
EP - 199
JO - Current Biology
JF - Current Biology
SN - 0960-9822
IS - 3
ER -