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  • Review Article
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Primate anterior cingulate cortex: Where motor control, drive and cognition interface

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 2, pages 417–424 (2001)Cite this article

Key Points

  • The anterior cingulate gyrus (ACC) has extensive connections with the motor cortex and spinal cord, connections that support the involvement of the ACC in motor control. Microstimulation of the ACC does indeed lead to body movements and to the utterance of vocalizations, whereas lesions of the ACC might lead to deficits in spontaneous initiation of movement and speech.

  • Reciprocal connections between the ACC and the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) support a role for the ACC in cognition. Indeed, different studies have supported this idea by revealing the existence of functional and effective connectivity between these two regions during the performance of cognitive tasks.

  • Different ideas have been put forward to explain the involvement of the PFC–ACC interaction in cognition. It has been argued that the PFC computes and maintains information necessary for the choice of an appropriate response, whereas the ACC facilitates implementation of the selected action. Alternatively, it has been proposed that the ACC might be involved in error detection or in conflict monitoring during the execution of a given task.

  • Extensive afferents to the ACC from the midline thalamic nuclei and from the brainstem indicate that arousal states can influence ACC activation. Furthermore, imaging studies have shown that ACC activation covaries with activation of midline thalamic nuclei. In addition, dopamine receptor agonists and antagonists affect ACC activation, highlighting the effect of neuromodulatory transmitter systems on ACC function.

  • The functional overlap of the motor, cognitive and arousal/drive domain might help to distinguish the function of the ACC from that of other cortical regions. In fact, this overlap places the ACC in a unique position to translate intentions to actions, participating in the willed control of behaviour.

Abstract

Controversy surrounds the function of the anterior cingulate cortex. Recent discussions about its role in behavioural control have centred on three main issues: its involvement in motor control, its proposed role in cognition and its relationship with the arousal/drive state of the organism. I argue that the overlap of these three domains is key to distinguishing the anterior cingulate cortex from other frontal regions, placing it in a unique position to translate intentions to actions.

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Figure 1: Cytoarchitectonic subdivisions of human and monkey cingulate cortex.
Figure 2: Response-related functional subdivisions of the anterior cingulate cortex in the human brain.
Figure 3: Single-case studies of behavioural deficits caused by discrete lesions of the right anterior cingulate cortex.

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Acknowledgements

I thank H. Barbas and M. Petrides for reviewing figure 1 , and B. Milner, J. Schall and K. Watkins for their comments on the manuscript. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation support the author's research.

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  1. Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal Neurological Institute, 3801 University Street, Montreal, H3A 2B4, Quebec, Canada

    Tomás̆ Paus

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Paus, T. Primate anterior cingulate cortex: Where motor control, drive and cognition interface. Nat Rev Neurosci 2, 417–424 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35077500

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