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.
Vigilance (psychology)
The cingulate gyrus differs from other brain regions associated with vigilance in that it exhibits less activation during vigilance tasks. The role of the cingulate gyrus in vigilance is unclear, but its proximity and connections to the corpus callosum, which regulates interhemispheric activity, may be significant. Reduced activation in the cingulate gyrus may be a by-product of asymmetrical frontal lobe activation initiated in the corpus callosum.