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Response selection in the human anterior cingulate cortex

Abstract

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been proposed as part of the brain's attentional control network, but the exact nature of its involvement in cognitive and motor operations is under debate. Assessing effects of human ACC damage directly addresses the problem of ACC function. We report that executive control processes of a patient with a focal right hemisphere anterior cingulate lesion were not compromised. However, her performance level depended on the response modality used. Under the same task requirements, she was impaired when giving manual responses, but not vocal responses. Thus, we provide neuropsychological evidence for functional specialization within the human ACC.

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Figure 1: MRI scans showing D.L.'s lesion.
Figure 2: The sagittal extent of the lesion is depicted in light red shading on the Talairach and Tournoux coordinate system10.
Figure 3: Details of the stimuli and tasks.
Figure 4: Performance accuracy in the selective attention (color and shape), divided attention and precued conditions for manual and vocal responses.
Figure 5: Stroop-type interference and response-modality effects.
Figure 6: Response preparation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by PO NS17778, DC03424 and the McDonnell-Pew Program in Cognitive Neuroscience. We wish to thank Bob Knight and Bob Rafal for their support and neurological expertise, Juliana Baldo for neuropsychological testing, Patrik Vuilleumier and Kaisa Hartikainen for comments on the manuscript and D.L. for her participation.

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Correspondence to Diane Swick.

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Turken, A., Swick, D. Response selection in the human anterior cingulate cortex. Nat Neurosci 2, 920–924 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/13224

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