of the inner body, and with negative emotional experience. It is also involved in the control of blood pressure, in particular during and after exercise, and its activity varies with the amount of effort a person believes he/she is exerting. The insular cortex also is where the sensation of pain is judged as to its degree. Further, the insula is where a person imagines pain when looking at images of painful events while thinking about their happening to one's own body. Those with irritable bowel syndrome have abnormal processing of visceral pain in the insular cortex related to dysfunctional inhibition of pain within the brain. Another perception of the right anterior insula is the degree of nonpainful warmth or nonpainful coldness of a skin sensation. Other internal sensations processed by the insula include stomach or abdominal distension. A full bladder also activates the insular cortex. One brain imaging study suggests that the unpleasantness of subjectively perceived dyspnea is processed in the right human anterior insula and amygdala. The cerebral cortex processing vestibular sensations extends into the insula, with small lesions in the anterior insular cortex being able to cause loss of balance and vertigo. Other noninteroceptive perceptions include passive listening to music, laughter and crying, empathy and compassion, and language. Motor control In motor control, it contributes to hand-and-eye motor movement, swallowing, gastric motility, and speech articulation. It has been identified as a "central command” centre that ensures that heart rate and blood pressure increase at the onset of exercise. Research upon conversation links it to the capacity for long and complex spoken sentences. It is also involved in motor learning and has been identified as playing a role in the motor recovery from stroke. Homeostasis It plays a role in a variety of homeostatic functions related to basic survival needs, such as taste, visceral sensation, and autonomic control. The insula controls autonomic functions through the regulation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. It has a role in regulating the immune system. Self The insula has been identified as playing a role in the experience of bodily self-awareness, sense of agency, and sense of body ownership. Social emotions The anterior insula processes a person's sense of disgust both to smells and to the sight of contamination and mutilation — even when just imagining the experience. This associates with a mirror neuron-like link between external and internal experiences. In social experience,