Conflict monitoring versus selection-for-action in anterior cingulate cortex

Abstract

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), on the medial surface of the frontal lobes of the brain, is widely believed to be involved in the regulation of attention. Beyond this, however, its specific contribution to cognition remains uncertain. One influential theory has interpreted activation within the ACC as reflecting 'selection-for-action', a set of processes that guide the selection of environmental objects as triggers of or targets for action. We have proposed an alternative hypothesis, in which the ACC serves not to exert top-down attentional control but instead to detect and signal the occurrence of conflicts in information processing. Here, to test this theory against the selection-for-action theory, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain activation during performance of a task where, for a particular subset of trials, the strength of selection-for-action is inversely related to the degree of response conflict. Activity within the ACC was greater during trials featuring high levels of conflict (and weak selection-for-action) than during trials with low levels of conflict (and strong selection-for-action), providing evidence in favour of the conflict-monitoring account of ACC function.

Schizophrenia Subjects Show Intact Success-Related Neural Activation but Impaired Uncertainty Processing during Decision-Making

“…Bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (BA 44/45) and middle frontal gyrus (BA 9/46), ventromedial prefrontal cortex (BA 10/11), and anterior cingulate (BA 32) showed error-rate-related activation changes. These areas have been implicated in spatial attentional processes (Mesulam, 1999), conflict and error monitoring (Carter et al, 2000;Botvinick et al, 1999), inhibitory processes (Menon et al, 2001;Liddle et al, 2001;Rubia et al, 2001b), and control of eye movements (Luna et al, 1998). Thus, both groups allocate similar error-rate-related processing resources during this decision-making task.…”

Neural bases of asymmetric language switching in second-language learners: An ER-fMRI study

“…It has been well documented that the bilateral frontal cortex is involved in general executive function D'Esposito et al, 1995;DiGirolamo et al, 2001;Gehring and Knight, 2000;MacDonald et al, 2000) and has been found to be active when switching between different tasks (Dove et al, 2000;Kimberg et al, 2000;Sohn et al, 2000). The ACC is activated by many different cognitive tasks, including the selection of appropriate response in tasks of selective attention as well as in the monitoring of responses for errors (Badgaiyan and Posner, 1998;Botvinick et al, 1999Botvinick et al, , 2001Veen et al, 2001). Therefore, it seemed that language switching involved the inhibitory control function, just as Green (1986Green ( , 1998 proposed.…”

Principles, processes, and puzzles of social cognition: An introduction for the special issue on social cognitive neuroscience

“…Typically, the same brain region is activated by a number of different tasks and therefore it is a painstaking empirical process to determine the precise computations performed by a brain region or neural circuit of multiple regions (Botvinick et al, 1999). Still, this could be one possible goal of social cognitive neuroscience research.…”

“…Cognitive psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists have examined reflective thought from many perspectives including working memory, executive processing, goal maintenance, conflict monitoring, source monitoring, and analogical thought (Anderson et al, 2003;Botvinick et al, 1999;Christoff et al, 2001;Mitchell et al, 2004b;Smith and Jonides, 1999). Nevertheless, social psychologists have uncovered some particularly quirky aspects of reflective thought that tend to highlight some of the less adaptive consequences of reflective thought.…”