Sex specificity of ventral anterior cingulate cortex suppression during a cognitive task

✍ Scribed by Tracy Butler; Julianne Imperato-McGinley; Hong Pan; Daniel Voyer; Amy Christine Cunningham-Bussel; Luke Chang; Yuan-Shan Zhu; Juan J. Cordero; Emily Stern; David Silbersweig

• Book ID: 102231285
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 188 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1065-9471
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.20340

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) is a highly interconnected brain region considered to reflect the sometimes competing demands of cognition and emotion. A reciprocal relationship between vACC and dorsal ACC (dACC) may play a role in maintaining this balance between cognitive and emotional processing. Using functional MRI in association with a cognitively‐demanding visuospatial task (mental rotation), we found that only women demonstrated vACC suppression and inverse functional connectivity with dACC. Sex differences in vACC functioning—previously described under conditions of negative emotion—are extended here to cognition. Consideration of participant sex is essential to understanding the role of vACC in cognitive and emotional processing. Hum Brain Mapp, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.