Given the well-described roles of the cingulate cortex in cognitive functions, this arrangement provides exceptional opportunities for cognitive-emotional interaction and integration. Orbitofrontal cortex Based on its connectivity pattern, the orbitofrontal cortex can be divided into “orbital” and “medial” subcomponents.37 The orbital network receives extensive sensory information and appears to integrate it, particularly in relation to the assessment of food and reward. The medial

network exhibits a distinctive connectivity pattern, and is heavily connected with areas of the medial wall of the brain, including those surrounding Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the cingulate gyrus, as well as Brodmann areas 9 and 10 medially. Again in contrast to the orbital network, the medial network receives few sensory inputs (with the exception of auditory association areas). Importantly, it projects to the hypothalamus and other visceral-control areas, leading to the suggestion that it is involved in “visceral modulation of emotion.”38 Via the hypothalamus, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical descending medial orbitofrontal influence appears to extend as far as spinal autonomic centers.39 In contrast, there are relatively few projections to the hypothalamus from the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical orbital network. Anterior insula The anterior insula is another structure that is critically

involved in the Selleckchem PD98059 processing of bodily signals as it contains a visceral sensory cortex that maps the internal state of the body in a precise fashion.31,32 It has been suggested31 that the anterior insula is more involved in the “afferent representation of “feelings” from the body” Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical (including representation of sensations

such as temperature, pain, and visceral ones; see also ref 30), and the cingulate, for instance, is instead involved in the initiation of behaviors (thus more “motor” in function). More generally, when considering the connectivity of the prefrontal cortex, more differentiated (in terms of laminar structure) regions appear to have restricted connections, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical whereas the least-differentiated regions have widespread intrinsic connections.40 For example, the highly differentiated area 8 on the lateral surface has connections that are more likely to target neighboring regions on the lateral surface of the hemisphere. In contrast, both orbital and medial nonisocortical old areas (ie, areas with poor lamination structure, such as a conjoined layer II/III and/or layer V/VI41) have extensive connections that span the orbital, medial, and lateral surfaces of the hemisphere. Thus, it has been suggested40 that, on the one hand, the widespread connectivity of the less differentiated regions is consistent with a more “global role” in neural processing; on the other hand, the more differentiated regions may have more specific roles in information processing. Summary on anatomy Historically, subcortical structures such as the hypothalamus and the amygdala have been implicated in emotion.