The DOI matches its Crossref record; 103 of the 103 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Emotional processing in anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex
Open accessAbstract
Negative emotional stimuli activate a broad network, including the medial prefrontal (mPFC) and anterior cingulate (ACC) cortices. An early influential view dichotomized these regions into dorsal-caudal “cognitive” and ventral-rostral “affective” subdivisions. In this review, we examine a wealth of recent research on negative emotions in animals and humans, using the example of fear/anxiety, and conclude that, contrary to the traditional dichotomy, both subdivisions make key contributions to emotional processing. Specifically, dorsal-caudal regions of the ACC/mPFC are involved in appraisal and expression of negative emotion, while ventral-rostral portions of the ACC/mPFC have a regulatory role with respect to limbic regions involved in generating emotional responses. Moreover, this new framework is broadly consistent with emerging data on other negative and positive emotions.
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“particular connectivity between the dMPFC and the rostral ACC has been implicated in the conscious appraisal of emotion (Etkin et al., 2011),”
From Distinct functional connectivities predict clinical response with emotion regulation therapy (2017) · cites this paper as Etkin et al., 2011
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“Increased late-phase dACC activation in the acceptance condition was found in regions that directly overlap with those reported in the extinction of contextual fear, and in particular the early stages of within-session extinction (Lang et al., 2009; Etkin et al., 2011).”
From Neural correlates of emotion acceptance vs worry or suppression in generalized anxiety disorder (2017) · cites this paper as Etkin et al., 2011
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“Like dACC, pregenual ACC has been implicated in social pain and rejection (Rotge et al., 2014), as well as during the regulation of emotional conflicts (Etkin et al., 2011), and responses to social-evaluative threat (Wager et al., 2009).”
From Neural responses to social threat and predictors of cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy in social anxiety disorder (2017) · cites this paper as Etkin et al., 2011
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“The dACC has been shown to be involved in monitoring and appraisal of potential threat and emotion conflict (Etkin et al., 2011).”
From Neural responses to social threat and predictors of cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy in social anxiety disorder (2017) · cites this paper as Etkin et al., 2011
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“Etkin et al. (45) proposes both sections to be involved in emotion processing, but with the dorsal regions playing a role in evaluation and expression of negative affect, and the ventral regions (subgenual and pregenual ACC) having a regulatory role by inhibiting the emotional response via the limbic system.”
From SSRI Treatment Response Prediction in Depression Based on Brain Activation by Emotional Stimuli (2020) · cites this paper as [45]
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“Many PFC areas are particularly associated with control over emotionally relevant information (hot CC) [60–64, 66], which, as discussed earlier, show some dissociations from cool CC.”
From The role of prefrontal cortex in cognitive control and executive function (2022) · cites this paper as [64]
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“Many PFC areas are particularly associated with control over emotionally relevant information (hot CC) [60–64, 66], which, as discussed earlier, show some dissociations from cool CC.”
From The role of prefrontal cortex in cognitive control and executive function (2022) · cites this paper as [64]
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“This is consistent with previous work showing that dACC activation is associated with appraisal and expression of fear and pain (Etkin et al. 2011), as well as a sense of personal agency or will to persevere (Parvizi et al. 2013).”
From Brain Activity and Functional Connectivity Associated with Hypnosis (2016) · cites this paper as Etkin et al. 2011
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“In fact, some parts of cACC are highly involved in emotional processes that include negative valence such as pain unpleasantness (Vogt et al., 1993), social exclusion (Eisenberger, 2012) and fear potentiation and appraisal (Etkin et al., 2011; Milad and Quirk, 2012).”
From Top-Down Dysregulation—From ADHD to Emotional Instability (2016) · cites this paper as Etkin et al., 2011
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“Importantly, although the rACC and cACC differ in their involvement in attentional tasks—as has long been suggested (Bush et al., 2000)—there is little support for a general division between an emotional and a non-emotional cingulate (Etkin et al., 2011; Okon-Singer et al., 2015).”
From Top-Down Dysregulation—From ADHD to Emotional Instability (2016) · cites this paper as Etkin et al., 2011
In the citing paper
“The ACC plays a central role in processing positively valenced emotions [239] and other rewards [240], and in coding value representations of anticipated rewards [241]”
From Reward circuitry dysfunction in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders and genetic syndromes: animal models and clinical findings (2012) · cites this paper as [239]
In the citing paper
“These ventral ACC regions correspond to the ‘affective' subdivision of the ACC, which is densely interconnected with limbic and paralimbic structures (eg, amygdala, nucleus accumbens), has been implicated in emotion expression/regulation, and is a critical hub in the default mode network linked to self-referential processing (Buckner et al, 2008; Etkin et al, 2011).”
From Neural Correlates of Three Promising Endophenotypes of Depression: Evidence from the EMBARC Study (2016) · cites this paper as Etkin et al, 2011
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Citations
Cites
Conflict monitoring and cognitive control
Botvinick, M. M., Braver, T. S., Barch, D. M., Carter, C. S., & Cohen, J. D. (2001) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.108.3.624 · Cited by 7,351
How do you feel — now? The anterior insula and human awareness
(Bud) Craig, A. D. (2009) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2555 · Cited by 6,657
Cognitive and emotional influences in anterior cingulate cortex
Bush, G., Luu, P., & Posner, M. I. (2000) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(00)01483-2 · Cited by 6,259
Emotion regulation: affective, cognitive, and social consequences.
Gross, J. J. (2002) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1017/s0048577201393198 · Cited by 4,890
The cognitive control of emotion
OCHSNER, K., & GROSS, J. (2005) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2005.03.010 · Cited by 4,495
Does Rejection Hurt? An fMRI Study of Social Exclusion
Eisenberger, N. I., Lieberman, M. D., & Williams, K. D. (2003) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1089134 · Cited by 3,849
Emotion, Decision Making and the Orbitofrontal Cortex
Bechara, A. (2000) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/10.3.295 · Cited by 3,589
A PROPOSED MECHANISM OF EMOTION
PAPEZ, J. W. (1937) · Archives of Neurology And Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archneurpsyc.1937.02260220069003 · Cited by 3,563
Functional neuroanatomy of emotion: A meta-analysis of emotion activation studies in PET and fMRI
Phan, K. L., Wager, T., Taylor, S. F., & Liberzon, I. (2002) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.2002.1087 · Cited by 3,502
Neural systems supporting interoceptive awareness
Critchley, H. D., Wiens, S., Rotshtein, P., Öhman, A., & Dolan, R. J. (2004) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1176 · Cited by 3,406
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Large-scale brain networks and psychopathology: a unifying triple network model
Menon, V. (2011) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.08.003 · Cited by 4,168
The neurobiology of semantic memory
Binder, J. R., & Desai, R. H. (2011) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.10.001 · Cited by 2,114
“Trends in Cognitive Sciences November 2011, Vol. 15, No. 11 preponderance of activations in the temporal pole (13 studies) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (10 studies), both of which play a central role in emotion [34,35].”
The integration of negative affect, pain and cognitive control in the cingulate cortex
Shackman, A. J., Salomons, T. V., Slagter, H. A., Fox, A. S., Winter, J. J., & Davidson, R. J. (2011) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2994 · Cited by 2,082
Cognitive Reappraisal of Emotion: A Meta-Analysis of Human Neuroimaging Studies
Buhle, J. T., Silvers, J. A., Wager, T. D., Lopez, R., Onyemekwu, C., Kober, H., Weber, J., & Ochsner, K. N. (2014) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bht154 · Cited by 1,896
“…signal” that can be triggered by diverse brain pathways, including high-level cognitive areas in the dlPFC. Finally, in another influential review, Etkin et al. (2011) suggested that vmPFC and adjacent regions might “perform a generic negative emotion inhibitory function that can be recruited…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialThe role of prefrontal cortex in cognitive control and executive function
Friedman, N. P., & Robbins, T. W. (2022) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/s41386-021-01132-0 · Cited by 1,737
Metadata
- Authors
- Etkin, A., Egner, T., & Kalisch, R.
- Affiliations
- VA Palo Alto Health Care System (US)
- Duke University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Etkin, Amit
- Venue
- Trends in Cognitive Sciences
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-02
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 85-93
- ISSN
- 1364-6613 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3035157
- OpenAlex
- W2050618347
- Semantic Scholar
- 54512ee234d533a5cb9cf8991a03f589cdd77376
- Cited by
- 3,059
- References
- 103
- Citations by year
- 2026: 191 · 2025: 190 · 2024: 196 · 2023: 186 · 2022: 178 · 2021: 216 · 2020: 228 · 2019: 226 · 2018: 271 · 2017: 227 · 2016: 237 · 2015: 203 · 2014: 199 · 2013: 159 · 2012: 96
- FWCI
- 7.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Trends in Cognitive Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH091860, P30MH089888)
- NIH Clinical Center
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- emotional processing, anterior cingulate cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, negative emotions, fear, anxiety, emotion appraisal, emotional expression, positive emotions
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brain Mapping, Emotions, Gyrus Cinguli, Humans, Prefrontal Cortex
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