What is the role of the anterior cingulate cortex in decision-making?

Question

What is the role of the anterior cingulate cortex in the decision-making process?

Answer 1

Thanks!

Comments

Oh my god! Wow, thank you so much for your generosity.

---

Thank you so much for your support!

Answer 2

This makes so much sense for me having ADHD. With weaker ACC I get decision paralysis a lot, and emotional dysregulation often follows. Thank you!

Comments

I never heard the expression “decision paralysis” before and I just assumed I was indecisive. However, when it reaches a point when you’re struggling to decide on which toothpaste to buy, and standing in the aisle for 10 minutes, it becomes a big problem.  That’s for everything.

---

same I thought it was because of my childhood trauma.

---

​@leer.watson4673 for insgignificant decisions just flip a coin or make a stupid rule like "i will buy whichever brands name comes first in alphabetical order". Saves time and energy, you also feel fullfiled because you dont doubt if you have made the right choice.

---

Do you have ADHD as part of nonverbal learning disorder? The ACC has been found to have weaker connections to the anterior insula in NVLD, along with the rostral prefrontal cortex. Those diagnosed with ASD but not having the additional traits of NVLD (most normal IQ people diagnosed with ASD actually have all the signs of NVLD and just never get asked about the devastating non-social deficits we have, such as inability to multitask, by the shallow social-interaction-obsessed medical community), had different connection differences in the same region (the salience network). So the logical conclusion is that there are two types of ASD, and the most common is NVLD, the type which includes ADHD as part of the profile, and has this weak connectivity between the ACC and the anterior insula.

---

.watson4673paralysis by analysis

---

can have brain dysfunction as a result of childhood trauma...hugely. They are absolutely linked.

Answer 3

Right about the time that I turned 18, I started having occasional sensations of disembodiment. I often described this feeling as "My spirit leaving my body."  The main trigger at that time was intense concentration. If I went into a trance like state while daydreaming, I would feel this sensation. My instant reaction was to get up and walk around. The feeling would pass after a few minutes, though my worry about it lingered for days.

After about 6 months of this, I got triggered into this same dissociative state while watching a movie. I was watching a scene that had me drawn into a deep concentrative state. The difference this time was that I couldn't "Walk it off." This triggered a panic attack with the dissociative feeling. My life became a living hell overnight.

This was back in 1992. I was afraid to tell anyone about this disconnected feeling. It was hard to explain. It's like, "How do a describe a sensation of a non sensation?" That night I had heart palpitations with skipped beats, which was a first for me. I was in a constant state of anxiety for over a year.

I finally went to a Doctor. I was put on a high dosage beta blocker and anxiety meds. This helped a lot. However, the symptoms started coming back. I have now spent over 30 years living with chronic anxiety.

I was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism at the age of 49. This disembodied feeling became crippling when I would try to drive a vehicle. I avoided any relationships outside of family. I've lived the last 12 years in isolation.

I think my problem is in the ACC area. I've done years of study on the brain and human behavior. And spent decades talking to Psychiatrists and Therapists. Artificial Intelligence also helped me come to this conclusion.

It's worth noting I also went through severe abuse as a child. My mother struggled with OCD and prescription medication addiction. I also have major problems with OCD as well.

There's been two themes that have been constant throughout my life. I have a routine goal oriented mindset. And I've always been a daydreamer, and a philosophical thinker. Its like my personality is split between a structured routine in this physical world, and contemplating if this is all a simulation.

Anyway, maybe someone might find this post helpful.

Answer 4

Dr Andrew Huberman podcast brought me here. He talked about it and then i searched for more videos and info about it. Fascinating!

Comments

Huberman is fantastic! Glad to have you here.

---

Same!

---

Me also . Life changing revelation that explains my life and other people I know. My will to live is low to zero

---

dont say that it is low to zero  think of all the countless millions of generations that happened to make you today! they all had the will to live and survive and thrive so you could exist today and live for the next generations to come! You are a product of countless wills to live, and a miracle!

---

​@@lolabrini3758Good point

Answer 5

I have very seldom found content of this quality on YouTube. Very thorough and awesome.

Answer 6

I would describe the role of the ACC as generating exploratory behavior on the body or around it, evaluating the risks observed and triggering an alarm or all-well response

Comments

I like that perspective. Thanks for your thoughtful comment.

Answer 7

Watching such a young person speaking so wisely, curious, trying to communicate a finding, gives me hope for the future of humanity

Answer 8

Thank you, it was very insightful. but I thought the ACC was more involved in situations where there is a conflict between the choices to be made and the goal, or a conflict between the outcome and the prediction (prediction error). Meanwhile, the basal ganglia (with the caudate handling criteria alignment and nucleus accumbens managing rewards) perform evaluation through the direct and indirect pathways. However, you mentioned that the ACC also evaluates choices. Could you clarify the difference between the ACC and the basal ganglia in evaluating choices?

Answer 9

Excellent lecture.  For those less familiar with brain regions, I diagram would help, but I followed without trouble.   The cingulate gyrus  is connected to which structures at the posterior end?  Next lecture?   Projections into the hippocampus or fornix?

Answer 10

Can we get a video on how covid or the pandemic event could damage the acc? I have been trying to fix myself for years now and it has been misdiagnosed. Thank you very much for this video. In my outreach i have come across  many people with the same symptoms and are being medicated incorrectly.

Answer 11

How to get help. . Dr amen identifies the ACC as one of the types of ADD . .

Comments

It is non-verbal learning disorder, which includes a type of ADHD. This condition has a different neuro profile but all the same symptoms as normal IQ autism, except a) no insistence on routines (plenty of stimming and other sensory abnormalities, just not the non-sensory "I must always sit right here on Tuesday" stuff), and b) has a bunch of additional deficits including poor navigation, physical speed control, motor skill automaticity, procedural learning and prospective memory.

Answer 12

Thanks a lot! We are imaging the ACC in mice with c-Phos labelling :)

Answer 13

Awesome. Thanks.

Comments

Thanks so much!

Answer 14

Andre Huberman’s explanation of this to David Goggins, made me come here. Thanks to your elaboration!

Comments

Ditto.  I also find the article on the study that Huberman mentioned, the study his colleague was involved in.

Answer 15

Nice Video!!!!!

Answer 16

this video finds a new audience if it gets into neuroplasticity, right?  I want to know what i can do to influence the growth of the aCC in a way that makes me a better person.  Maybe there is no such data out there, but if there is is like to know about it.

like some other commenters have said, i came to this video by way of a Huberman podcast, an interview with David Goggins.  in that conversation, Huberman mentions a study that stimulated, in humans, the anterior  midcingulate cortex and the subject reported that he felt like he was driving toward a storm, and he had to drive through it to get to where he wanted to go.  the subject was asked if he felt fear and he said no, he felt like he WANTED to go through the storm to reach his goal.  Huberman then suggested that the aMCC  might be developed by deliberately doing things that are hard to do, by deliberately entering into the storms in one's life, again and again, they developing that capacity.  At any rate, you're was a great talk and i listened to every word.  Keep up the good work.

Answer 17

I was diagnosed automic neuropathy in 2003 and ADHD more recently. Ive never understood any of it, not one doctor/neurologist/cardiologist has ever explained any of it.
Might someone have a direction for me to go in? I want to just function like everyone else.

Comments

Don’t function like everyone else be yourself do your own thing you can study philosophy such as stoicism or you want a fulfillment guide I’ve found that it helps me don’t think you need to think like everyone else take advantage of your disadvantaged

---

I am trying to find my way. Knowledge is everything. I can at least stop absorbing all of the criticism from others and realize that it's not my fault. Now I can focus on how I might function best.

---

What strategies do you have so far? Sharing this information online would be an absolute game-changer.

---

’re describing the traits of an empath. Do an MBTI personality test. It’s free. It will be life changing

Answer 18

I heard that the ACC is what conservatives don't use because they use the amygdala, which is used to manage fight, flight, foraging, and mating, the lower level functions. The conservative and religious state of mind is concerned with fear and management of insecure situations. Is this right?

Answer 19

I was going to subscribe but my ACC won't let me... sorry.

Answer 20

I make myself go yo my job everyday…