Learning to consciously regulate brain activity in the insula (shown in yellow) could help patients control chronic pain. (Credit: Omneuron.)

I'm lying in the plastic cocoon of an MRI machine, an instrument that measures activity in different parts of the brain. As I try to hold still, the loudly clanking machine runs a structural scan to locate the anterior cingulate cortex and the insula, regions involved in processing pain. A computer then translates the MRI signal into three small animated fires, representing the activity levels of the cingulate and the right and left insula, projected onto a screen above my face.

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