In Roman architecture, an insula (Latin for "island," plural insulae) was a kind of apartment building that housed most of the urban citizen population of ancient Rome. The ground-level floor of the insulae was used for tabernae, shops and businesses, with the living space upstairs. In each hemisphere of the mammalian brain the insular cortex (often called insula, insulary cortex or insular lobe) is a portion of the cerebral cortex folded deep within the lateral sulcus between the temporal lobe and the frontal lobe. The insulae play a role in diverse functions usually linked to emotion or the regulation of the body's homeostasis.