A Region of Interest Analysis Focusing on the Insular and Cingulate Cortices

The insula is a brain region located on the lateral part of the brain. Previous findings show that the insula serves as a multimodal hub through which information is transmitted. In a recent group level analysis the insula, the anterior cingulate and the cingulate gyrus were found to be marked with prevalent clusters. In this study an attempt is made to confirm these findings and evaluate their significance by conducting a region of interest analysis (ROI). A group of 20 participants underwent an fMRI scan while solving mathematical problems of various degrees of difficulty. After the completion of each problem, they were asked to rate the difficulty of the current task from one to four (one corresponding to “very easy” and four corresponding to “very difficult”). The fMRI scanner was used to collect brain signal during the mathematical cognition and also the metacognition phase of the experiment. Signal corresponding to brain activation for each task was analyzed from various areas by conducting an ROI analysis and a t-test was used to determine the level of significance. Brain regions that were shown to be active in the group level analysis (right insula, left anterior cingulate and left/right middle frontal gyri) were confirmed to be active by the ROI analysis.