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.
Trisynaptic circuit
The association cortex includes most of the cerebral surface of the brain and is responsible for processing that goes between the arrival of input in the primary sensory cortex and the generation of behaviour. Receives and integrates information from various parts of the brain and influences many cortical and subcortical targets. Inputs to the association cortices include the primary and secondary sensory and motor cortices, the thalamus, and the brain stem. The association cortex projects to places including the hippocampus, basal ganglia, and cerebellum, and other association cortices. Examination of patients with damages to one or more of these regions, as well as noninvasive brain imaging, it has been found that the association cortex is especially important for attending to complex stimuli in the external and internal environments. The temporal association cortex identifies the nature of stimuli, while the frontal association cortex plans behavioural responses to the stimuli.