Neuroanatomy, Limbic System

The limbic system is an aggregation of brain structures that are generally located lateral to the thalamus, underneath the cerebral cortex and above the brainstem. In 1878, Paul Broca was the first to name this general region as the brain le grand lobe limbique. Later on, in 1949, the American physician and neuroscientist, Paul D. MacLean, called it the limbic lobe, although now there is more current terminology used for the individual structures included in this region. Eventually, this region became understood to have links to emotional, memory and motivational processes that connect to other parts of the brain. Clinically, some specific disorders occur when parts of the limbic system suffer a lesion. While a full understanding of the limbic system is far from complete, advances in neurosciences have still given a better understanding of the role the individual components of the limbic system play, and some insight into their many connections.