SynthesisThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2013
The autonomic brain: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis for central processing of autonomic function.
Synthesis in The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06244823 (A Prospective Structural, Diffusion and Connectomics MRI Study on Migraine Patients Treated With Fremanezumab), which is not on this map. Cited by 467 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
A Prospective Structural, Diffusion and Connectomics MRI Study on Migraine Patients Treated With Fremanezumab: The FreMRI Study
Who cites it
467 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Neural correlates of acute task-related stress in humans: a systematic review and coordinate-based ALE meta-analysis.Brain imaging and behavior · 2026Pooled it
- Subgenual anterior cingulate cortex in major depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis of MRI studies with patients and healthy controls.Translational psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- A working model linking the psychopathology and pathophysiology of major depressive disorder - an umbrella review of neuroimaging studies and a conceptual framework.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- The efficacy and mechanisms of low-intensity transcranial ultrasound stimulation on pain: a systematic review of human and animal studies.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Pooled it
- Evidence for domain-general arousal from semantic and neuroimaging meta-analyses reconciles opposing views on arousal.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Pooled it
- Systemic Symptoms in Huntington's Disease: A Comprehensive Review.Movement disorders clinical practice · 2024Pooled it
- Coactivation of Autonomic and Central Nervous Systems During Processing of Socially Relevant Information in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review.Neuropsychology review · 2024Pooled it
- Unveiling the role of cerebellar alterations in the autonomic nervous system: a systematic review of autonomic dysfunction in spinocerebellar ataxias.Journal of neurology · 2023Pooled it
- White matter tracts associated with iTBS-induced heart rate deceleration and treatment response in major depressive disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Infraslow Closed-Loop Brain Training for Anxiety and Depression (ISAD): A pilot randomised, sham-controlled trial in adult females with internalizing disorders.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2025Trial
- Enhancing Psychophysiological Well-Being Through Nature-Based Soundscapes: An Examination of Heart Rate Variability in a Cross-Over Study.Psychophysiology · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Distributed Neural Substrates for Autonomic Control During Human Thermoregulation: Brain Network Configurations of Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Innervation.Brain topography · 2026Article
- Macro-structural brainstem volumetry in generalized epilepsy: assessment of subcortical network involvement.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026Article
- Voluntary attention regulates acute immune responses in humans.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
- The physiological foundation of extinction improvement by tDCS over the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in healthy humans: an fMRI study.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Tinnitus and tinnitus disorder: Genetic, neurobiological, and clinical differentiation.iScience · 2026Review
- Distinct Brain Systems Support Afferent and Efferent Autonomic Activity.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Atrial fibrillation detected after ischemic stroke (AFDAS) diagnosed by short-term monitoring: the importance of frontal hypoperfusion.Journal of thrombosis and thrombolysis · 2026Article
- Phrase-level emotional salience modulates neural substrates of situation model building in developing readers.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
407 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is of paramount importance for daily life. Its regulatory action on respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, endocrine, and many other systems is controlled by a number of structures in the CNS. While the majority of these nuclei and cortices have been identified in animal models, neuroimaging studies have recently begun to shed light on central autonomic processing in humans. In this study, we used activation likelihood estimation to conduct a meta-analysis of human neuroimaging experiments evaluating central autonomic processing to localize (1) cortical and subcortical areas involved in autonomic processing, (2) potential subsystems for the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the ANS, and (3) potential subsystems for specific ANS responses to different stimuli/tasks. Across all tasks, we identified a set of consistently activated brain regions, comprising left amygdala, right anterior and left posterior insula and midcingulate cortices that form the core of the central autonomic network. While sympathetic-associated regions predominate in executive- and salience-processing networks, parasympathetic regions predominate in the default mode network. Hence, central processing of autonomic function does not simply involve a monolithic network of brain regions, instead showing elements of task and division specificity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.