Shared roles of dorsal and subgenual anterior cingulate cortices in economic decisions

ABSTRACT Theories of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) function generally emphasize its cognitive and regulatory functions while theories of subgenual ACC (sgACC) emphasize its emotional, limbic, and arousal-related roles. But how different are these areas when compared in the same task? We recorded neuronal responses in both regions in macaques in a task with cognitive and limbic aspects, a token gambling task. Using tokens allowed us to compare responses to wins and losses. Both regions phasically encoded several important economic variables in similar ways; these included offered values, remembered values, attended values, and obtained values, and number of current tokens. Signal-to-noise ratio in sgACC was substantially lower than in dACC, and sgACC neurons responded more strongly to losses and in anticipation of large rewards. These results highlight the common economic functions of the anterior cingulum and suggest different functional emphases between regions, rather than a strict cognitive vs. emotional division.