Broca named the limbic lobe in 1878, identifying it with the cingulate and parahippocampal gyri, and associating it with the sense of smell - Treviranus having earlier noted that, between species, the size of the parahippocampal gyrus varies with the size of the olfactory nerve.[2] In 1937, Papez theorized that a neural circuit (the Papez circuit) including the hippocampal formation and the cingulate gyrus constitutes the neural substrate of emotional behavior,[3] and Klüver and Bucy reported that, in monkeys, resection involving the hippocampal formation and the amygdaloid complex has a profound effect on emotional responses.[4][5] As a consequence of these publications, the idea that the entire limbic lobe is dedicated to olfaction receded, and a direct connection between emotion and the limbic lobe was established.[6]
^Klüver, H; Bucy, PC (1937). ""Psychic blindness" and other symptoms following bilateral temporal lobectomy in Rhesus monkeys". American Journal of Physiology. 119: 352–53.
^Klüver, H; Bucy, PC (1939). "Preliminary analysis of functions of the temporal lobes in monkeys". Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry. 42 (6): 979–1000. doi:10.1001/archneurpsyc.1939.02270240017001.
^Nieuwenhuys, R; Voogd, J; van Huijzen, C (2008). "The greater limbic system". The human central nervous system (fourth ed.). Berlin/Heidelberg/New York: Springer-Verlag. p. 917. ISBN978-3-540-13441-1.
Limbic lobe (shown in red) of left cerebral hemisphere.
Limbic lobe (shown in orange) of left cerebral hemisphere.
Limbic lobe (shown in purple) of right cerebral hemisphere.
Limbic lobe (shown in purple) of right cerebral hemisphere.
Limbic lobe highlighted in green on coronal T1 MRI images
Limbic lobe highlighted in green on sagittal T1 MRI images
Limbic lobe highlighted in green on transversal T1 MRI images
