The structural differences in the insular cortex might relate to enhancements of body awareness in Vipassana (insight meditation) practitioners observed in behavioral, physiological, magnetoencephalographic, and functional neuroimaging research. Insula involvement in enhanced body awareness  may also be an explanation for the consistent findings of the changes in this region in meditation practitioners. Since problems with the perception of the body and the emotions engendered by introceptive symptoms are involved in depression and anxiety, a greater ability to accurately represent the body  may play a role in the emotional and clinical benefits that  apparently results from meditation.

University of Georgia

Somatomotor cortices

Anterior precuneus

Insular cortex

Sensory Cortices and Insula in meditation

The insular cortex is situated inside of the Sylvian fissure.  Research has implied that the insular cortex is linked to the perception of pain, basic emotions (such as joy, happiness, anger, and disgust), addiction and other conscious desires, interoceptive awareness, sense of self, and reading emotions and social cues.


Insular Cortex

Wang, P. P., & Jernigan, T. L. (1994). Morphometric studies using neuroimaging. Neurologic clinics, 12(4), 789–802.

Morphometric studies using neuroimaging. 

Insular Cortex in meditation

Although the anterior precuneus is a relatively poorly understood region, it is suggested to have a role in higher-order body image, self-related processing, and attentional shifting. These roles are consistent with the emphasis on the present moment-centered, body-oriented awareness cultivated in many meditation traditions ( particularly Vipassana). The anterior precuneus shows strong functional connectivity with primary and secondary somatomotor cortices, insula, and superior parietal cortex. Therefore, structural differences in this region may be involved in the higher-order integration of heightened interoceptive and exteroceptive attention, potentially mediated by insula and somatomotor cortices, or other forms of self-processing and evaluation. Therefore, this integration may aid in achieving the greater present-centered awareness, and transformed view of the self that is advocated in many meditation traditions.

Anterior precuneus in meditation

Mindfulness meditation training can reduce the perceived unpleasantness of painful stimuli, which is related to an altered function or structure in somatosensory cortices. The ability of meditation practitioners to focus on the sensory qualities of painful and unpleasant stimuli, rather than the emotional and self-related cognition that might result from unpleasant stimuli, may be an underlying cause of morphometric changes in somatosensory cortices. Alteration of the somatomotor cortical structure by mental training alone is also consistent with research that shows that imagining or dreaming of somatomotor activities results in higher blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal in these regions, although there was not any muscle activity or explicit sensory input. Therefore, these studies suggest that attention is sufficient to significantly modulate activity in these brain areas. As a result, attention may also be enough to significantly modulate brain structure in these regions.

Somatomotor Cortices

 Spinal Cord, Inc. (2020, December 3). Insular cortex. SpinalCord.com. https://www.spinalcord.com/insular-cortex. 

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