The insular cortex calibrates physiological responses and can be recalibrated through short protocols to reduce fear and trauma.

“The insular seems to be involved in calibrating how big or how high amplitude a given physiological response is. So it's pairing the internal landscape with the external world. And this might seem like just a mechanistic, but non-actionable point. But what you'll see from the next study that I'm going to describe is that recalibrating the relationship between outside events and internal responses, which is the job of the insular is actually something that's under our control. And through a very simple, very short protocol, we can actually recalibrate that system so much so that we can potentially reduce the amount of fear and trauma that we experience, in response to a memory or to a real event.”