Final answer:
The anterior cingulate cortex is especially likely to be hyperactive in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), as supported by neuroimaging studies that show front-striate-limbic hyperactivation in OCD patients during symptom provocation. So, the correct answer is A.
Step-by-step explanation:
The anterior cingulate cortex is known to be particularly hyperactive in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Neuroimaging studies, such as those by Simon et al. (2010), have observed fronto-striato-limbic hyperactivation during symptom provocation in OCD patients. This finding is corroborated by additional psychiatric literature, including Saxena, Bota, and Brody (2001), which denotes brain-behavior relationships in OCD and associates hyperactivity in this brain region with the disorder's symptomatic expressions.
The anterior cingulate cortex plays a crucial role in error detection, anticipation of tasks, attention, and motivation. Individuals with OCD have been found to exhibit aberrant activity within this region, which is thought to contribute to the excessive worry, repetitive behaviors, and compulsions that characterize the disorder. Beucke et al. (2013) also identified abnormal connectivity of the orbitofrontal cortex in OCD, which is closely linked with the anterior cingulate's functioning. Other disorders such as PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, and phobias have their own neural correlates, but the specificity of hyperactivity within the anterior cingulate cortex is most distinctively observed in OCD.