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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
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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 

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