Direct and simultaneous recordings across the human brain during a memory encoding task involving emotionally valenced words revealed tightly clustered neuronal sites within the insular cortex with distinct roles — some tracked valence, whereas others predicted memory. Only memory-related insular sites, when electrically stimulated, sparked strong hippocampal responses, uncovering a specialized insula–hippocampus axis for successful memory encoding.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Flinker, A., Chang, E. F., Barbaro, N. M., Berger, M. S. & Knight, R. T. Sub-centimeter language organization in the human temporal lobe. Brain Lang. 117, 103–109 (2011). Using a language task, the authors showed distinct responses across recording sites that were less than 5 mm apart.
Pinheiro-Chagas, P., Sava-Segal, C., Akkol, S., Daitch, A. & Parvizi, J. Spatiotemporal dynamics of successive activations across the human brain during simple arithmetic processing. J. Neurosci. 44, e2118222024 (2024). Using a math and autobiographical memory task, the authors showed distinct juxtaposition of math- and memory-responsive sites only a couple of millimeters apart.
Miller, K. J., Sorensen, L. B., Ojemann, J. G. & Den Nijs, M. Power-law scaling in the brain surface electric potential. PLoS Comput. Biol. 5, e1000609 (2009). Seminal work that set the course of future studies focusing on aperiodic broadband activity.
Donoghue, T. et al. Parameterizing neural power spectra into periodic and aperiodic components. Nat. Neurosci. 23, 1655–1665 (2020). An article that introduces a practical pipeline for the for the analysis of aperiodic activity.
Chang, E. F. Towards large-scale, human-based, mesoscopic neurotechnologies. Neuron 86, 68–78 (2015). An important review highlighting the value of iEEG studies that measure brain activity at the mesoscopic level.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This is a summary of: Huang, W. et al. Direct interactions between the human insula and hippocampus during memory encoding. Nat. Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02005-1 (2025).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Functionally diverse human insular architecture with memory-related hippocampal interactions. Nat Neurosci 28, 1580–1581 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02035-9
Published:
Version of record:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02035-9
