Posterior Cingulate
The posterior cingulate cortex is the backmost part of the cingulate cortex, lying behind the anterior cingulate cortex. This is the upper part of the "limbic lobe". The cingulate cortex is made up of an area around the midline of the brain. Surrounding areas include the retrosplenial cortex and the precuneus.
Cytoarchitectonically the posterior cingulate cortex is associated with Brodmann areas 23 and 31.
The posterior cingulate cortex forms a central node in the "default mode" network of the brain. Along with the precuneus, it has been implicated as a neural substrate for human awareness in numerous studies of both the anesthesized and vegetative (coma) state. Imaging studies indicate a prominent role for the posterior cingulate cortex in pain and episodic memory retrieval. It is also been revealed that increased size of posterior ventral cingulate cortex is related to the working memory performance decline. Furthermore, the posterior cingulate may be involved in the capacity to understand what other people believe.