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.