Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T14:55:32.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Persisting through subjective effort: A key role for the anterior cingulate cortex?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2013

Kristin L. Hillman  and
David K. Bilkey
Kristin L. Hillman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand. [email protected]://www.otago.ac.nz/psychology/staff/[email protected]://www.otago.ac.nz/psychology/staff/davidbilkey.html
David K. Bilkey
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand. [email protected]://www.otago.ac.nz/psychology/staff/[email protected]://www.otago.ac.nz/psychology/staff/davidbilkey.html
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

One shortcoming of Kurzban et al.'s model is that it is not clear how animals persist through subjectively effortful tasks, particularly over a long time course. We suggest that the anterior cingulate cortex plays a critical role by encoding the utility of an action, and signalling where efforts should be best directed based on previous and prospected experience.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 36 , Issue 6 , December 2013 , pp. 691 - 692
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amiez, C., Joseph, J. P. & Procyk, E. (2005) Anterior cingulate error-related activity is modulated by predicted reward. European Journal of Neuroscience 21(12):3447–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benoit, R. G., Gilbert, S. J. & Burgess, P. W. (2011) A neural mechanism mediating the impact of episodic prospection on farsighted decisions. Journal of Neuroscience 31(18):6771–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berns, G. S., Laibson, D. & Loewenstein, G. (2007) Intertemporal choice – Toward an integrative framework. Trends in Cognitive Science 11(11):482–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyer, P. (2008) Evolutionary economics of mental time travel? Trends in Cognitive Science 12(6):219–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Croxson, P. L., Walton, M. E., O'Reilly, J. X., Behrens, T. E. & Rushworth, M. F. (2009) Effort-based cost-benefit valuation and the human brain. Journal of Neuroscience 29(14):4531–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hillman, K. L. & Bilkey, D. K. (2010) Neurons in the rat anterior cingulate cortex dynamically encode cost-benefit in a spatial decision-making task. Journal of Neuroscience 30(22):7705–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennerley, S. W., Walton, M. E., Behrens, T. E., Buckley, M. J. & Rushworth, M. F. (2006) Optimal decision making and the anterior cingulate cortex. Nature Neuroscience 9(7):940–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peters, J. & Büchel, C. (2010) Episodic future thinking reduces reward delay discounting through an enhancement of prefrontal-mediotemporal interactions. Neuron 66(1):138–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quilodran, R., Rothe, M. & Procyk, E. (2008) Behavioral shifts and action valuation in the anterior cingulate cortex. Neuron 57(2):314–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raichle, M. E., Fiez, J. A., Videen, T. O., MacLeod, A. M., Pardo, J. V., Fox, P. T. & Petersen, S. E. (1994) Practice-related changes in human brain functional anatomy during nonmotor learning. Cerebral Cortex 4(1):8–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rudebeck, P. H., Behrens, T. E., Kennerley, S. W., Baxter, M. G., Buckley, M. J., Walton, M. E. & Rushworth, F. S. (2008) Frontal cortex subregions play distinct roles in choices between actions and stimuli. The Journal of Neuroscience 28(51):13775–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sallet, J., Quilodran, R., Rothe, M., Vezoli, J., Joseph, J. P. & Procyk, E. (2007) Expectations, gains, and losses in the anterior cingulate cortex. Cognitive Affective Behavioral Neuroscience 7(4):327–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shidara, M. & Richmond, B. J. (2002) Anterior cingulate: Single neuronal signals related to degree of reward expectancy. Science 296(5573):1709–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shima, K. & Tanji, J. (1998) Both supplementary and presupplementary motor areas are crucial for the temporal organization of multiple movements. Journal of Neurophysiology 80(6):3247–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed