Contributions of anterior cingulate cortex to behaviour

Abstract

Assessments of anterior cingulate cortex in experimental animals and humans have led to unifying theories of its structural organization and contributions to mammalian behaviour. The anterior cingulate cortex forms a large region around the rostrum of the corpus callosum that is termed the anterior executive region. This region has numerous projections into motor systems, however, since these projections originate from different parts of anterior cingulate cortex and because functional studies have shown that it does not have a uniform contribution to brain functions, the anterior executive region is further subdivided into 'affect' and 'cognition' components. The affect division includes areas 25, 33 and rostral area 24, and has extensive connections with the amygdala and periaqueductal grey, and parts of it project to autonomic brainstem motor nuclei. In addition to regulating autonomic and endocrine functions, it is involved in conditioned emotional learning, vocalizations associated with expressing internal states, assessments of motivational content and assigning emotional valence to internal and external stimuli, and maternal-infant interactions. The cognition division includes caudal areas 24' and 32', the cingulate motor areas in the cingulate sulcus and nociceptive cortex. The cingulate motor areas project to the spinal cord and red nucleus and have premotor functions, while the nociceptive area is engaged in both response selection and cognitively demanding information processing. The cingulate epilepsy syndrome provides important support of experimental animal and human functional imaging studies for the role of anterior cingulate cortex in movement, affect and social behaviours. Excessive cingulate activity in cases with seizures confirmed in anterior cingulate cortex with subdural electrode recordings, can impair consciousness, alter affective state and expression, and influence skeletomotor and autonomic activity. Interictally, patients with anterior cingulate cortex epilepsy often display psychopathic or sociopathic behaviours. In other clinical examples of elevated anterior cingulate cortex activity it may contribute to tics, obsessive-compulsive behaviours, and aberrent social behaviour. Conversely, reduced cingulate activity following infarcts or surgery can contribute to behavioural disorders including akinetic mutism, diminished self-awareness and depression, motor neglect and impaired motor initiation, reduced responses to pain, and aberrent social behaviour. The role of anterior cingulate cortex in pain responsiveness is suggested by cingulumotomy results and functional imaging studies during noxious somatic stimulation. The affect division of anterior cingulate cortex modulates autonomic activity and internal emotional responses, while the cognition division is engaged in response selection associated with skeletomotor activity and responses to noxious stimuli. Overall, anterior cingulate cortex appears to play a crucial role in initiation, motivation, and goal-directed behaviours.(ABSTRACT...

The Role of the Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex, Basolateral Amygdala, and Dorsal Hippocampus in Contextual Reinstatement of Cocaine Seeking in Rats

“…Additionally, the dmPFC exhibits neural activation in response to both cocaine-paired stimuli and cocaine priming injections (Brown et al, 1992;Neisewander et al, 2000;Ciccocioppo et al, 2001) and the functional integrity of this structure is necessary for cocaine-primed reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behavior (McFarland and Kalivas, 2001), unlike the BLA or DH (Figure 3b Kantak et al, 2002;Yun and Fields, 2003). Thus, among the three structures examined, the dmPFC is the most generalized in its involvement in cocaine-seeking behavior which is consistent with its theorized role in executive functions, including attentional processes and response selection (Janer and Pardo, 1991;Devinsky et al, 1995;Bolla et al, 1998). Specifically, the dmPFC is thought to modulate the salience and motivational significance of stimuli by regulating attention to the sensory input that enters the BLA and hippocampus (Kolb, 1984;Rosenkranz and Grace, 2001) and by mediating BLA input to the nucleus accumbens (Jackson and Moghaddam, 2001), respectively.…”

“…Specifically, the dmPFC is thought to modulate the salience and motivational significance of stimuli by regulating attention to the sensory input that enters the BLA and hippocampus (Kolb, 1984;Rosenkranz and Grace, 2001) and by mediating BLA input to the nucleus accumbens (Jackson and Moghaddam, 2001), respectively. Furthermore, it has been theorized that the dmPFC initiates cocaine-seeking behavior in response to motivational stimuli, including cocaine-paired contextual S D s, explicit CSs, or cocaine, via its extensive projections to the spinal cord and the basal ganglia (Devinsky et al, 1995;Bolla et al, 1998), which may mediate the compulsive, automated aspect of cocaine-seeking behavior (McFarland and Kalivas, 2001).…”

Subgenual Cingulate Theta Activity Predicts Treatment Response of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Participants With Vascular Depression

“…10 Although the rostral ACC is anatomically connected to the subgenual ACC, these regions are cytoarchitecturally distinct. 9, 30–32 The subgenual ACC is considered a more archaic region than the rostral ACC; has extensive connections with other parts of the brain such as the amygdala, raphe nuclei, and brain stem autonomic nuclei; and is involved in emotional processing, monoaminergic neurotransmitter release, and autonomic regulation. 33 While abnormal function has been found in both the rostral and the subgenual ACC in major depression, only the subgenual ACC has been associated with a reduction in volume, 31,34 and this may represent the core abnormality of treatment resistant depression.…”

Decreased Anterior Cingulate Myo-inositol/Creatine Spectroscopy Resonance with Lithium Treatment in Children with Bipolar Disorder

“…Its proximal quadrant was placed immediately adjacent to the zone of delimitation between white and gray matter (i.e. corpus callosum's margin with cingulate gyrus), in a prefrontal area corresponding to the rostral cingulate area, partially occupying rostral area 24 (Devinsky et al 1995) and 32 of Brodman (Fuster 1999). This voxel placement was selected according to anatomical correlation with neuronal circuit or pathways postulated in the neurobiology of affective components of human behavior (Vogt 1993) and bipolar disorder (Pearlson 1999).…”