Bilateral cingulotomy
Studies in patients that were a subject to bilateral cingulotomy, that involved fMRI analyses, showed that the anterior cingulate cortex has a key role in cognitive control and is highly likely to be involved in the control of attentional response, whereas the dorsal part of that region of the brain was not identified to be involved in such a process, although this is still under dispute. The function of the dorsal part of the cingulate cortex was connected to the sorting out and processing of conflicting information signals. In addition, neuroimaging studies also indicated that the anterior cingulate cortex participates in the modulation of cortical regions that are of higher order as well as sensory processing areas.
Posterior cingulate cortex
The posterior cingulate cortex forms a central node in the default mode network of the brain. It has been shown to communicate with various brain networks simultaneously and is involved in various functions. Along with the precuneus, the posterior cingulate cortex has been implicated as a neural substrate for human awareness in numerous studies of both the anesthesized and vegetative (coma) state. Imaging studies indicate a prominent role for the posterior cingulate cortex in pain and episodic memory retrieval. Increased size of posterior ventral cingulate cortex is related to declines in working memory performance. The posterior cingulate cortex has been strongly implicated as a key part of several intrinsic control networks.