Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40740255›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in neuroscience2025

Anterior insular cortex glutamate-glutamine (Glx) levels predict general psychopathology via heightened error sensitivity.

Haeorum Park, Minchul Kim, Jaejoong Kim, Sunghwan Kim, Bumseok Jeong

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Haeorum ParkGraduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Minchul KimGraduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Jaejoong KimGraduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Sunghwan KimGraduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Bumseok JeongGraduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: The anterior insular cortex (AIC) integrates interoceptive, cognitive-emotional, and error-monitoring signals, and is consistently hyperactive in anxiety and depression. Converging evidence links elevated glutamate + glutamine (Glx) in fronto-insular regions to stress reactivity; however, it is unknown whether AIC Glx relates to a transdiagnostic general psychopathology factor (G-score) or to the tendency to overweight prediction errors during learning. We therefore combined functional MRS (fMRS) with reinforcement-learning modeling to test whether (i) baseline AIC Glx predicts the G-score derived from bifactor analysis of PHQ-9, GAD-7, and STAI-X1, and (ii) task-evoked Glx changes track individual differences in error sensitivity during gain- and loss-based learning. Methods: Fifty-six healthy adults (22 ± 2 yr, 16 women) completed the questionnaires and performed a two-armed bandit task (40 loss then 40 gain trials) while single-voxel semi-LASER spectra were acquired from AIC and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) at rest and during each block. Six Rescorla-Wagner variants were fitted to the choices; the best model (based on the lowest LOOIC) included error sensitivity, decision temperature, and value decay. Glx (CRLB < 20%) was quantified using LCModel and analyzed with repeated-measures ANOVA and Bonferroni-corrected correlations; mediation was assessed using Baron-Kenny steps (α = 0.05). Results: Baseline AIC Glx correlated with the G-score ( Discussion: Higher excitatory tone in the AIC appears to enlarge prediction-error weighting, which in turn amplifies a shared anxiety-depression dimension. Dynamic Glx reductions during reward learning suggest acute metabolic demand superimposed on a trait-like baseline that biaes cognition. Targeting insular glutamatergic function-pharmacologically or via neuromodulation-may therefore mitigate maladaptive error processing that underlies internalizing psychopathology.

Indexed as

error sensitivityfunctional MRSgeneral psychopathologyglutamatereinforcement learning

Identifiers

PMID40740255
PMCPMC12307414

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.