mesa de café

Scientists call that "insula" and they say it is the wellspring of social emotions, things like lust and disgust, pride and humiliation, guilt and atonement. It helps give rise to moral intuition, empathy and the capacity to respond emotionally to music. Its anatomy and evolution shed light on the profound differences between humans and other animals. The insula also reads body states like hunger and craving and helps push people into reaching for the next sandwich, cigarette or line of cocaine. For example, the insula “lights up” in brain scans when people crave drugs, feel pain, anticipate pain, empathize with others, listen to jokes, see disgust on someone’s face, are shunned in a social settings, listen to music, decide not to buy an item, see someone cheat and decide to punish them, and determine degrees of preference while eating chocolate. The bottom line is that mind and body are integrated in the insula. It provides unprecedented insight into the anatomy of human emotions.