Interoception, emotion and brain: new insights link internal physiology to social behaviour. Commentary on: Anterior insular cortex mediates bodily sensibility and social anxiety by Terasawa et al. (2012)

In this issue, Terasawa and colleagues used functional neuroimaging to test for common neural substrates supporting conscious appraisal of subjective bodily and emotional states and explored how the relationship might account for personality and experience of anxiety symptoms. Their study highlights a role for the same region of anterior insula cortex in appraisal of emotions and bodily physiology. The reactivity of this region also mediated the relationship between 'bodily sensibility' and social fear, translating a cognitive representation of subjective physical state into an individual personality trait that influences social interaction. The task used by Terasawa and colleagues taps into conscious aspects to the expression of this dynamic. These findings add to increasing evidence for the role of anterior insula as the interface between physiologically driven internal motivational states, emotional awareness and interpersonal behaviour.