The limbic lobe is an arc-shaped region of cortex

Cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex is a sheet of neural tissue that is outermost to the cerebrum of the mammalian brain. It plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. It is constituted of up to six horizontal layers, each of which has a different...

 on the medial

Medial

- Medial magmas :In abstract algebra, a medial magma is a set with a binary operation which satisfies the identity \cdot = \cdot , or more simply, xy\cdot uv = xu\cdot yv...

 surface of each cerebral hemisphere

Cerebral hemisphere

A cerebral hemisphere is one of the two regions of the eutherian brain that are delineated by the median plane, . The brain can thus be described as being divided into left and right cerebral hemispheres. Each of these hemispheres has an outer layer of grey matter called the cerebral cortex that is...

 of the mammalian brain, consisting of parts of the frontal, parietal and temporal lobes. The term is ambiguous, with some authors including the paraterminal gyrus

Paraterminal gyrus

The paraterminal gyrus is a narrow lamina on the medial surface of the hemisphere in front of the lamina terminalis, behind the parolfactory area, and below the rostrum of the corpus callosum. It is continuous around the genu of the corpus callosum with the supracallosal gyrus....

, the subcallosal area

Subcallosal area

The subcallosal area is a small triangular field on the medial surface of the hemisphere in front of the subcallosal gyrus, from which it is separated by the posterior parolfactory sulcus; it is continuous below with the olfactory trigone, and above and in front with the cingulate gyrus; it is...

, the cingulate gyrus, the parahippocampal gyrus

Parahippocampal gyrus

The parahippocampal gyrus is a grey matter cortical region of the brain that surrounds the hippocampus. This region plays an important role in memory encoding and retrieval....

, the dentate gyrus

Dentate gyrus

The dentate gyrus is part of the hippocampal formation. It is thought to contribute to new memories as well as other functional roles. It is notable as being one of a select few brain structures currently known to have high rates of neurogenesis in adult rats, .The dentate gyrus cells receive...

, the hippocampus

Hippocampus

The hippocampus is a major component of the brains of humans and other vertebrates. It belongs to the limbic system and plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory and spatial navigation. Humans and other mammals have two hippocampi, one in...

 and the subiculum

Subiculum

The subiculum is the most inferior component of the hippocampal formation. It lies between the entorhinal cortex and the CA1 subfield of the hippocampus proper.-Paths:...

; while the Terminologia Anatomica

Terminologia Anatomica

Terminologia Anatomica is the international standard on human anatomic terminology. It was developed by the Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology and the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists and was released in 1998. It supersedes the previous standard, Nomina...

 includes the cingulate sulcus

Cingulate sulcus

The cingulate sulcus is a sulcus on the medial wall of the cerebral cortex. The frontal and parietal lobes are separated by the cingulate sulcus from the cingulate gyrus.-External links:* via the Neuroscience Information Framework...

, the cingulate gyrus, the isthmus of cingulate gyrus

Isthmus of cingulate gyrus

The cingulate gyrus commences below the rostrum of the corpus callosum, curves around in front of the genu, extends along the upper surface of the body, and finally turns downward behind the splenium, where it is connected by a narrow isthmus with the hippocampal gyrus.-External links:*...

, the fasciolar gyrus, the parahippocampal gyrus, the parahippocampal sulcus, the dentate gyrus

Dentate gyrus

The dentate gyrus is part of the hippocampal formation. It is thought to contribute to new memories as well as other functional roles. It is notable as being one of a select few brain structures currently known to have high rates of neurogenesis in adult rats, .The dentate gyrus cells receive...

, the fimbrodentate sulcus, the fimbria of hippocampus, the collateral sulcus

Collateral fissure

The collateral fissure is on the tentorial surface of the hemisphere and extends from near the occipital pole to within a short distance of the temporal pole....

, and the rhinal sulcus, and omits the hippocampus.

Broca

Paul Broca

Pierre Paul Broca was a French physician, surgeon, anatomist, and anthropologist. He was born in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, Gironde. He is best known for his research on Broca's area, a region of the frontal lobe that has been named after him. Broca’s Area is responsible for articulated language...

 named the limbic lobe in 1878, identifying it with the cingulate and parahippocampal gyri, and associating it with the sense of smell - Treviranus

Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus

Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus was a German naturalist. He was a proponent of the theory of the transmutation of species, a theory of evolution held by some biologists prior to the work of Charles Darwin...

 having earlier noted that, between species, the size of the parahippocampal gyrus varies with the size of the olfactory nerve. In 1937 Papez

James Papez

James Papez was an American neuroanatomist. Papez received his MD from the University of Minnesota College of Medicine and Surgery. He is most famous for his 1937 description of the Papez circuit which is a neural pathway in the brain thought to be involved in the cortical control of emotion...

 theorized that a circuit including the hippocampal formation

Hippocampal formation

The hippocampal formation is a compound structure in the medial temporal lobe of the brain. There is currently no consensus concerning which brain regions are encompassed by the term, with some authors defining it as the dentate gyrus, the hippocampus proper and the subiculum; and others including...

 and the cingulate gyrus constitutes the neural substrate of emotional behavior, and Klüver

Heinrich Klüver

Heinrich Klüver was a German-American psychologist born in Holstein, Germany.After having served in the Imperial Germany Army during World War I, he studied at both the University of Hamburg and the University of Berlin from 1920-23. In the latter year, he arrived in the United States to attend...

 and Bucy

Paul Bucy

Paul Bucy was an American neuropathologist who was a native of Hubbard, Iowa. He studied medicine at the University of Iowa, and afterwards was an assistant to neurosurgeon Percival Bailey at the University of Chicago...

 reported that, in monkeys, resection

Segmental resection

Segmental resection is a surgical procedure to remove part of an organ or gland. It may also be used to remove a tumor and normal tissue around it. In lung cancer surgery, segmental resection refers to removing a section of a lobe of the lung.- External links :* entry in the public domain NCI...

 involving the hippocampal formation and the amygdaloid complex

Amygdala

The ' are almond-shaped groups of nuclei located deep within the medial temporal lobes of the brain in complex vertebrates, including humans. Shown in research to perform a primary role in the processing and memory of emotional reactions, the amygdalae are considered part of the limbic system.-...

 has a profound effect on emotional responses. As a consequence of these publications, the idea that the entire limbic lobe is dedicated to olfaction

Olfaction

Olfaction is the sense of smell. This sense is mediated by specialized sensory cells of the nasal cavity of vertebrates, and, by analogy, sensory cells of the antennae of invertebrates...

receded, and a direct connection between emotion and the limbic lobe was established.

External links

• Explanatory diagram
• http://ahsmail.uwaterloo.ca/kin356/ltm/limbic_lobe.html