BACKGROUND Learning to play a musical piece is a prime example of complex sensorimotor learning in humans. Recent studies using electroencephalography (EEG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) indicate that passive listening to melodies previously rehearsed by subjects on a musical instrument evokes differential brain activation as compared with unrehearsed melodies. These changes were ...

Despite much research on the function of the insular cortex, few studies have investigated functional subdivisions of the insula in humans. The present study used resting-state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to parcellate the human insular lobe based on clustering of functional connectivity patterns. Connectivity maps were computed for each voxel in the insula based on...

We examined cerebral activation patterns with positron emission tomography (PET) in 12 right-handed normal volunteers while they were completing simple calculation tasks or merely repeating numbers. Using a parametric experimental design, during calculation we found activation in the medial frontal/cingulate gyri, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left anterior insular cortex and right anter...

Understanding brain structures and circuits impacted by alcohol use disorder is critical for improving our future prevention techniques treatment options. A region that has recently gained traction its involvement in substance the insular cortex. This multi-functional spatially complex, resulting a relative lack of understanding cortex disorder. Here we discuss role disorder, particularly durin...

Changes in gene expression are thought to be involved in neuronal plasticity associated with learning and memory. Although acetylation of lysine residues on histones by histone acetyltransferases (HAT) is an obligatory component of transcription, HAT activity has been largely ignored in studies of the nervous system. We developed a new model for studying novel taste learning using novel solid f...

(1) In order to determine whether the responsiveness of neurons in the insular gustatory cortex is influenced by hunger, neuronal activity was analysed in it while macaque monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) were fed to satiety. The responses of single neurons in the insular gustatory cortex to the protypical taste stimuli glucose, NaCl, HCl and quinine HCl, and to fruit juice, were measured before, ...