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.
Cingulate cortex
"Cingulum" means "belt" in Latin. The name was likely chosen because this cortex, in great part, surrounds the corpus callosum. 
The cingulate cortex is a part of the ""grand lobe limbique"" of Broca (1878) that consisted of a superior cingulate part (supracallosa) and an inferior hippocampic part (infracallosal). The limbic lobe was separated from the remainder of the cortex by Broca for two reasons: first because it is not convoluted, and second because the gyri are directed parasagittally (contrary to the transverse gyrification). Since the parasagittal gyrification is observed in non-primate species, the limbic lobe was thus declared to be "bestial". As with other parts of the cortex, there have been and continue to be discrepancies concerning boundaries and naming. Brodmann (1909) further distinguished Areas 24 (anterior cingulate) and 23 (posterior) based on granularity. Most recently, it was included as a part of the limbic lobe in the Terminologia Anatomica (1998) following von Economo's (1925) system.