Multi-task Intracranial EEG recordings reveal a Comprehensive Role of the Human Dorsal Anterior Insula in High-Level Cognition

Chatard, B.; Dupin, M.; Petton, M.; Bontemps, B.; Minotti, L.; Kahane, P.; Rheims, S.; Bastin, J.; Lachaux, J.-P.

doi:10.64898/2025.12.15.694298

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bioRxiv · 10.64898/2025.12.15.694298

Multi-task Intracranial EEG recordings reveal a Comprehensive Role of the Human Dorsal Anterior Insula in High-Level Cognition

Chatard, B.·Dupin, M.·Petton, M.·Bontemps, B.·Minotti, L.·Kahane, P.·Rheims, S.·Bastin, J.·Lachaux, J.-P.

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Abstract

The dorsal anterior insula (dAI) is widely recognized as a cornerstone of human cognition. However, its functional characterization remains the subject of considerable debate and competing theories. Embracing a "shift in viewpoint" approach--defining a brain regions function through the observation of the same neural population across diverse experimental contexts--this study used intracranial EEG (iEEG) recordings from a large cohort of patients to investigate the sub-second neural response dynamics of the human dAI across a broad range of cognitive tasks, spanning visual category discrimination, phonological and semantic processing, attentive visual search, and verbal and visuospatial working memory. This within-subject, multi-task iEEG framework offered a robust basis for decoding the structure-function relationship of the dAI and for empirically testing key predictions of prevailing theoretical models concerning its role. Our findings confirmed the dAIs involvement in the Action-Mode Network and shed new light on the large-scale spatiotemporal organization of that network, while providing novel insights into the interplay between cognitive effort and efficiency.

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Chatard, B., Dupin, M., Petton, M., Bontemps, B., Minotti, L., Kahane, P., Rheims, S., Bastin, J., Lachaux, J.-P.. 2025-12-16. Multi-task Intracranial EEG recordings reveal a Comprehensive Role of the Human Dorsal Anterior Insula in High-Level Cognition. https://doi.org/10.64898/2025.12.15.694298

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