The posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) is the back part of the cingulate cortex, on the inner face of each hemisphere, behind the anterior cingulate cortex and above the corpus callosum. It is Brodmann areas 23 and 31. [1]
The 3D brain needs JavaScript. The text below still says where the posterior cingulate cortex is and what it does.
Opens cut down the midline and seen from the left, so you look at the inner face of the right hemisphere: the lit cingulate gyrus arches over the corpus callosum; the posterior cingulate cortex is its back part, above the rear half of the corpus callosum and in front of the precuneus. Drag to turn, pinch or scroll to zoom, tap any part to name it; .
Lit: the whole cingulate gyrus, on both sides. The area is part of this gyrus; its exact border is not drawn. It is the back (caudal) part of the cingulate gyrus, behind the anterior cingulate cortex and in front of the retrosplenial cortex. The model draws the cingulate gyrus as one shape from front to back, so the whole gyrus is lit, its front part included. [1][2][3]
Held by the cingulate gyrus — see the whole gyrus on its own page.
With the retrosplenial cortex (areas 29 and 30) and the precuneus, which lies behind and above it, it makes up the posteromedial cortex. [1]
It is paralimbic cortex with fewer than six cell layers, between the six-layered neocortex and the older allocortex of the core limbic structures. [1]
Unlike the agranular anterior cingulate cortex, it is granular; the granular area 31 lies above area 23, and the retrosplenial area 29 follows behind. [2]
What it does
It is one of the most metabolically active regions of the brain: blood flow and metabolic rate there run about 40% above the brain’s average. There is still no consensus on its cognitive role. [1]
Its best-known role is as a central node of the default mode network, which quietens quickly when attention turns outward (a working-memory task, meditation) and is active when attention turns inward: recalling events, planning, daydreaming. [1]
It is the usual seed for finding that network: in resting-state scans, the regions whose activity rises and falls with the posterior cingulate cortex trace out the default mode network. [4]
It is intensely active when memories of one’s own life, such as of friends and family, are recalled successfully, and not during attempts that fail. [1]
Emotional pictures or words activate it on both sides whether they are pleasant or unpleasant, unlike the amygdala, which responds more to negative ones. [1]
Area 23 sends fibres to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (area 9), the front of the prefrontal cortex (area 10), the orbitofrontal cortex (area 11) and the parahippocampal gyrus. [2]
In monkeys it has no apparent connections to the primary sensory or motor areas, so it is unlikely to handle low-level sensing or movement. [1]
Other names
Posterior cingulate cortex, PCC; together with the retrosplenial cortex it forms the retrosplenial gyrus. [1]
The model has no shape for the posterior cingulate cortex itself, so it is not measured here. The whole left cingulate gyrus that holds it measures about 111 mm front to back, 67 mm top to bottom and 28 mm side to side on this model (the box it fits in, not its volume). [3]
Facts describe anatomy and normal function only. The 3D model is the adult male BodyParts3D brain (credits and licence); real brains vary in size and shape, so its measurements describe one model, not anyone’s brain.