Anterior cingulate cortex
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Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is the frontal part of the cingulate cortex and includes Brodmann's area 24 (ventral ACC) and 32 (dorsal ACC). The ACC forms a collar around the corpus callosum, which relays neural signals between the right and left hemispheres. The ACC appears to play a role in a wide variety of autonomic functions, such as regulating heart rate and blood pressure, and is vital to cognitive functions, such as reward anticipation, decision-making, empathy, and emotion. Neuroscientists indicate the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex is primarily related to rational cognition while the ventral is more related to emotional cognition.
According to the latest research by Alcino Silva and colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, the anterior cingulate cortex is responsible for rendering new memories permanent. According to researchers at the California Institute of Technology, the ACC of mankind has undergone significant evolutionary adaptations, playing an increased role in relaying neural signals from deep within the brain to various regions of the neocortex, in particular Brodmann's area 10, perhaps as recently as the last 100,000 years.
ACC response in Stroop task experiments (designed to measure adherence to sequential decision-making paths), remains relatively elevated in typical human subjects, as the alternative - spontaneity - is sacrificed. Whereas most funded research is concentrated on reduced task focus - often diagnosed subjectively as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD) - recent research has revealed that heightened ACC activity (generally associated with reduced dopamine utilization) reduces capacity to learn how to use visual cues for anticipating rewards [1] (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5673747/).
The anterior cingulate cortex contains cells known as spindle neurons, and have only been found in the ACC and frontoinsular cortex of humans and great apes.
External links
- The Anterior Cingulate Cortex: The Evolution of an Interface Between Emotion and Cognition (http://www.allmanlab.caltech.edu/research/spindlecells1.htm), paper by John Allman et al
- AllmanLab.CalTech.edu (http://www.allmanlab.caltech.edu/) - John Allman Lab
- TaipeiTimes.com (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2003/12/10/2003079090/print) - Know Thyself and Others