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Participation of the Insula in Language

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Island of Reil (Insula) in the Human Brain

Abstract

Since the beginning of aphasia history, it has been known that the insula has a crucial role in language. The interest in the insula somehow decreased during the twentieth century, because it has not directly included in the perisylvian language area proposed by Dejerine. During the late twentieth century, it was proposed that the insula plays a crucial role on speech praxis. Since Wernicke, it has been observed that insula damage is frequently associated with aphasia; different types of aphasia have been reported in cases of insula damage: motor planning and organization of speech in Broca’s aphasia, repetition defects associated with conduction aphasia, and the word-deafness component of Wernicke’s aphasia. Mutism and oral apraxia have also been reported to be associated with left insula pathology. Neuroimaging studies have corroborated that the insula has extensive brain connection, including not only the frontal motor language area but also posterior language areas. Anatomical connections of the insula point also to an important viscero-limbic role, and it may accordingly be suggested that the insula is involved in verbal motivation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Alfredo Ardila

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  1. Alfredo Ardila
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Correspondence to Alfredo Ardila .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Adnan Menderes University, School of Medicine , Aydın, Turkey

    Mehmet Turgut

  2. Ege University, Department of Anatomy, Izmir, Turkey

    Canan Yurttaş

  3. Seattle Science Foundation, Seattle, Washington, USA

    R. Shane Tubbs

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Ardila, A. (2018). Participation of the Insula in Language. In: Turgut, M., Yurttaş , C., Tubbs, R. (eds) Island of Reil (Insula) in the Human Brain. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75468-0_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75468-0_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75467-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75468-0

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