The insula has become a significant brain region in the study of both normal and impaired
behavior and decision-making and has emerged as an important contributor to drug …

The insula contributes to behavioral control and is disrupted by substance abuse, yet we
know little about the neural signals underlying these functions or how they are disrupted …

This chapter begins with a summary of the initial findings on the effects of insula lesions on
smoking behavior as well as more recent human‐lesion studies that replicate and extend …

Deficits in cost‐benefit decision‐making, as assessed in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), are
commonly observed in neuropsychiatric disorders such as addiction. There is considerable …

Brain lesions that damage the insular cortex (IC) interrupt addictive behaviors, suggesting
that drug addiction sensitizes the insula. However, neuroimaging studies seem to lead to an …

Much remains unknown about the etiology of compulsion-like alcohol drinking, where
consumption persists despite adverse consequences. The role of the anterior insula (AIC) in …

Insula function is considered critical for many motivated behaviors, with proposed functions
ranging from attention, behavioral control, emotional regulation, goal-directed and aversion …

Rationale Increasing evidence suggests that the anterior insular cortex (AIC) plays a major
role in cocaine addiction, being implicated in both impaired insight and associated decision …

We have recently shown that damage to the insula leads to a profound disruption of
addiction to cigarette smoking (Naqvi et al., Science 315: 531–534, 2007). Yet, there is little …

Alcohol abuse is a major public health problem. With approximately 79,000
alcoholassociated deaths per year, alcohol misuse is the third leading lifestyle-related cause …