11. Dissociating the contributions of DLPFC and anterior cingulate to executive control: An event-related fMRI study

Both DLPFC and the anterior cingulate (ACC) show increased activation during executive control; however, the specific contributions of each area remains controversial. Two classes of processes underlie control. Strategic processes provide top-down support for task operations; evaluative processes monitor ongoing performance. Using event-related fMRI and a task-switching Stroop paradigm we examined whether the strategic/evaluative distinction could be used to dissociate DLPFC and ACC. LDLPFC showed cue-related activity which was greater for color naming than word reading, with greater activation correlating with smaller Stroop effects (r = -.63). ACC showed only response-related activity which was greater for incongruent color-naming trials and correlated positively with the RT Stroop effect (r = .41). These data suggest DLPFC contributes a strategic function and ACC an evaluative one to executive control.