The anterior cingulate cortex is located in the front of the cingulate cortex, circling above the corpus callosum. It is connected to other brain regions and involved in several functions. The ACC detects errors and monitors for conflicts. It also plays a role in reward-based learning and emotional awareness. Studies have shown the ACC is less active in religious people when thinking about religion. The ACC is stimulated when viewing photos of former romantic partners. Dysfunction in the ACC may play a role in depression and OCD.
2. LOCATION IN THE
BRAIN
The anterior cingulate cortex is located
towards the front of the cingulate cortex
A region that circles above the corpus
callosum
This region is connected to the prefrontal
cortex and parietal cortex as well as both
motor and visual systems.
The anterior cingulate cortex is one of the four
main subdivisions.
4. ERROR DETECTION AND
CONFLICT MONITORING
The error detection functioning
comes from observations of
error-related negativity which is
generated in the ACC during
error occurrences.
Detection of con鍖ict situations
5. REWARD-BASED
LEARNING
In the ACC the dorsal and
rostral areas are both
a鍖ected by the rewards and
losses associated with
errors.
Detects and monitors errors.
6. ROLE IN
CONSCIOUSNESS
ACC activation has illustrated that
we have better emotional
awareness and it is associated with
improved recognition of emotional
cues or targets.
7. RELIGION
Strong religious beliefs are
beginning to be associated with
low activity in the anterior
cingulate cortex, according to
researchers at York University
9. Bush, Vogt, Holmes, Dale, Greve,
Jenike et al. (2002)
The aim was to explore social and emotional functions in
patients with medial frontal damage primarily in the
anterior cingulate cortex (ACC).
Three patients with medial frontal lobe damage involving
the ACC performed tasks on decision making, and
emotional facial expression recognition.
Patient performance on the decision making and social
situations tasks did not di鍖er from controls. Selective
emotional facial expression recognition impairment for fear
was evident in one patient with right ACC damage.
10. Inzlicht & Tullet (2010) -
UofT Study
Researchers showed that when people think about religion and
God and how brains would respond and if they would respond
di鍖erently
Participants either wrote about religion or did a scrambled word
task that included religion and God-related words. Then the
researchers recorded their brain activity as they completed a
computerized task - one that was chosen because it has a high
rate of errors.
The results showed that when people typically began to think
about religion and God, either consciously or unconsciously,
brain activity decreases in areas consistent with the anterior
cingulate cortex (ACC).
11. Inzlicht & Tullet (2010) -
UofT Study (cont.)
Atheists reacted di鍖erently; when they were
unconsciously primed with God-related ideas, their
ACC increased its activity.
The researchers suggest that for religious people,
thinking about God may justify the world and random
events and thus it reduces any feelings of anxiety. For
atheists thoughts of God may contradict the meaning
systems they embrace and thus cause them more
distress.
12. Journal of Neurophysiology
(2010)
Researchers used fMRI to record brain activity in 15 college-age
heterosexual men and women who had recently been rejected by their
partners but were still intensely "in love." All participants said they spend
more than 85% of their waking hours thinking of the person who rejected
them.
Participants each viewed a photograph their former partners. Then they
completed a simple math exercise to distract them from their romantic
thoughts. Then, they viewed a photograph of a familiar "neutral" person.
The researchers found that looking at photographs of the participants'
former partners stimulated several key areas of the participants' brains
more than looking at photos of neutral persons did. Along with nucleus
accumbens the anterior cingulate cortex was stimulated.
13. DYSFUNCTIONAL ACC?
Stimulation of the ACC with low dosages of electrical
current have shown improve depression.
There is evidence that the ACC could have a role in the
OCD because of the low level of glutamate activity in
this region and it has been observed in OCD su鍖erers.