Dorsal anterior cingulate: a Rorschach test for cognitive neuroscience

The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex is one of the most beguiling regions of the brain. Understanding its essential function has become a holy grail for many cognitive neuroscientists. With this scrutiny has come contention. In this issue, two teams of neuroscientists with different views argue for their favored interpretation of neural activity in this region. Here, we provide some background and context for this debate.