activity of 36 neurons located in the anterior cingulate cortex. Upon analyzing the results of the study, it was concluded that the anterior cingulate cortex is indeed involved in the modification of cognitive tasks that require attention, based on the fact that there was a change in the basal firing rate of neurons in that region during simulation of such tasks. Neuroimaging also uncovered different sub-regions in the anterior cingulate cortex itself, based on their function. These studies showed that the caudal part of the anterior cingulate cortex plays a more important function in cognitive activities that involve attention, salience, interference and response competition. These results, combined with electrophysiological investigation of the function of neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex, have provided insights that can be used in the improvement of cingulotomy performed on patients treated for OCD. The basis behind this idea is the fact that a variation of certain tasks, Emotional Stroop tasks (ES), which have been particularly identified as exerting effects in OCD patients, activate neurons in the more rostral part of the anterior cingulate cortex. Thus, theoretically, if bilateral cingulotomy is performed in such a patient in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex, better results should be obtained. Moreover, OCD has been associated with a malformation of the basal ganglia. The function of this part of the human brain has been mapped to be composed of fiber tracks associated with numerous parallel cortico-striato-thalamocortical circuits (CSTC), which are involved in sensorimotor, motor, oculomotor as well as the cognitive processes that are manifested by the limbic system. This pathway involves GABAergic inhibitory projections that serve as one of the means of communication between the different structures involved. It has been hypothesized that some forms of OCD are a result of disinhibition of one or several of the circuits that operate in the CSTC. This is also indicated by a finding that showed a significant decrease in intracortical inhibition in OCD patients. Thus, lesions in the anterior cingulate cortex might contribute to the lessening of the disinhibition effect. This hypothesis has been confirmed by another study, which assessed the cortical inhibitory and excitatory mechanisms in OCD. The study measured the excitability of the motor cortex, as well as intracortical inhibition in OCD patients and a control group of healthy individuals. The results showed a significant decrease in intracortical inhibition, which resulted in a slowdown of interstimulus intervals by 3 ms.