What is the primary function of the anterior cingulate cortex?
Anterior cingulate cortex
It appears to play a role in a wide variety of autonomic functions, such as regulating blood pressure and heart rate.
Interoception
The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays a significant role in motivation and the creation of emotion. An emotion can be seen as comprising both a feeling and a motivation based on that feeling. According to one view, the “feeling” is represented in the insula, while the “motivation” is represented in the ACC. Many interoceptive tasks activate the insula and ACC together, specifically tasks that elicit strong aversive feeling states like pain.