The role of the anterior insula in social norm compliance and enforcement: Evidence from coordinate-based and functional connectivity meta-analyses

Gabriele Bellucci, Chunliang Feng, Julia Camilleri, Simon B. Eickhoff, Frank Krueger*

*Corresponding author for this work
15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Economic games —trust (TG) and ultimatum game (UG)— combined with fMRI have shown the importance of the anterior insula (AI) in social normative behaviors. However, whether different AI subregions are engaged in different cognitive and affective processes for social norm compliance and norm enforcement during social exchange remains elusive. Here, we investigated the role of the dorsal AI (dAI) and ventral AI (vAI), combining a coordinate-based meta-analysis of fMRI studies using the TG and UG with meta-analytic task-based and task-free connectivity analyses. Our findings showed that the right dAI and vAI were the only common brain regions consistently activated across games. These clusters were part of two functionally distinguishable connectivity networks associated with cognitive (dAI) and emotional (vAI) processes. In conclusion, we propose that dAI mediates cognitive processes that generate expectancy for norm compliance, whereas vAI mediates aversive feelings that generate motivation to norm enforcement. The identified functional differentiation of the right AI in the social domain contributes to a better understanding of its role in basic and clinical neuroscience.

Original languageEnglish
JournalNeuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
Volume92
Pages (from-to)378-389
Number of pages12
ISSN0149-7634
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 09.2018

Research Areas and Centers

  • Academic Focus: Center for Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM)

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