Decoding the cognitive and affective contributions of the human anterior insula using 
large-scale fMRI meta-analyses

Tal Yarkoni
University of Colorado Boulder

Functional neuroimaging studies have implicated the human anterior insula (aI) in a 
broad range of affective and cognitive functions. However, the frequency with which aI 
is activated in such studies presents a conceptual challenge, since if aI is activated by 
many tasks, it cannot, by definition, be functionally specific. In the work presented here, 
we leveraged the Neurosynth framework--a recently introduced software platform for 
large-scale synthesis of fMRI data--to conduct a relatively unbiased, data-driven 
investigation of the functional role of the human insula. We combined resting-state 
connectivity-based parcellation of the insula with large-scale meta-analysis to 
understand how the insula is anatomically organized based on functional connectivity 
patterns as well as the consistency and specificity of the associated cognitive functions. 
Our findings support a tripartite subdivision of the insula, with the anterior division 
preferentially implicated in higher cognitive functions rather than affective or sensory 
processing per se. We conclude with a discussion of the potential "core function" of aI 
that underscores potential directions for future research while acknowledging a number 
of current limitations of fMRI.