Are Somatic Markers Islanders?
Somatic markers are mostly located on the Insular Cortex (insula = island). This region integrates information from nearly every emotional and body state, like laughter, lust, pride, humiliation, etc. This is then sent to higher-order cognitive + emotional regions.
This cortex reads body states such as fear, hunger and craving and makes the body reach for the next candy bar, can of beer, glass of wine, cigarette, cigar, snort of cocaine, or any other addictive item.
It has been identified as a “central command” center that regulates the immune system and ensures that heart rate and blood pressure increase when needed.
It’s pivotal to bodily-awareness, like feeling pain when you just look at some painful event or remember a painful moment. We can use our emotional response to evaluate external information coming in.
