AD (Bud) Craig

The anterior insular cortex (AIC) is implicated in a wide range of conditions and behaviors, from bowel distension and orgasm, to cigarette craving and maternal love, to decision-making and sudden insight (“aha!”) . Its function in the re-representation of interoception offers one possible basis for its involvement in all subjective feelings. New findings suggest a fundamental role for the AIC (and the von Economo neurons it contains) in awareness, and thus it needs to be considered as a potential neural correlate of consciousness.