Cingulate cortex

The cingulate cortex is a part of the brain situated in the medial aspect of the cerebral cortex. The cingulate cortex includes the entire cingulate gyrus, which lies immediately above the corpus callosum, and the continuation of this in the cingulate sulcus. The cingulate cortex is usually considered part of the limbic lobe. It receives inputs from the thalamus and the neocortex, and projects to the entorhinal cortex via the cingulum. It is an integral part of the limbic system, which is involved with emotion formation and processing, learning, and memory. The combination of these three functions makes the cingulate gyrus highly influential in linking motivational outcomes to behavior (e.g. a certain action induced a positive emotional response, which results in learning). This role makes the cingulate cortex highly important in disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. It also plays a role in executive function and respiratory control. The term cingulate is derived from the Latin cingulātus (meaning "girdled"). Based on cerebral cytoarchitectonics it has been divided into the Brodmann areas 23, 24, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33. The areas 26, 29 and 30 are usually referred to as the retrosplenial areas. Anterior cingulate cortex This corresponds to areas 24, 32 and 33 of Brodmann and LA of Constantin von Economo and Bailey and von Bonin. It is continued anteriorly by the subgenual area (Brodmann area 25), located below the genu of the corpus callosum). It is cytoarchitectonically agranular. It has a gyral and a sulcal part. Anterior cingulate cortex can further be divided in the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (near the genu) and midcingulate cortex. The anterior cingulate cortex receives primarily its afferent axons from the intralaminar and midline thalamic nuclei (see thalamus). The nucleus anterior receives mamillo-thalamic afferences. The mamillary neurons receive axons from the subiculum. The whole forms a neural circuit in the limbic system known as the Papez circuit.