Will Studies of Macaque Insula Reveal the Neural Mechanisms of Self-Awareness?

The discovery of von Economo neurons within macaque insular cortex by Evrard et al. (2012) described in this issue of Neuron promises a valuable experimental model to characterize their functional roles. One hypothesis, now open to wider interrogation, is that these intriguing cells mediate self-referential processes underlying or dependent upon consciousness awareness