Meta-analytic evidence for the role of the anterior cingulate cortex in social pain

Since at least the 1930s, when the American physician James Papez highlighted the importance of the cingulate gyrus for emotional processes (Papez, 1937), researchers have been interested in the functions of this region. One issue that has been challenging to disentangle, though, is how specific psychological processes map onto the various subdivisions of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Whereas early lesion studies focused on the role of the dorsal ACC (dACC) in pain experience (Foltz and White, 1962) and affective processes (Tow and Whitty, 1953), later studies from cognitive neuroscientists in the late 1990s and early 2000s focused on the role of the dACC in cognitive processes such as conflict monitoring and error detection, processes that signal the need for cognitive control (Botvinick et al., 2004). Indeed, an influential review at that time suggested that the dACC was primarily involved in cognitive processes whereas the ventral ACC (vACC) was primarily involved in affective processes (Bush et al., 2000). This synthesis was later overturned by a comprehensive meta-analysis showing that cognitive, affective and painful tasks all activate the dACC (Shackman et al., 2011) as well as a review showing that the dACC is involved in emotional appraisal and expression, whereas the vACC is involved in emotional regulation (Etkin et al., 2011). Hence, the specific role of the dACC and vACC in cognitive and emotional processing has been debated, with major pendulum shifts across decades (reviewed in Eisenberger, in press).