Abstract
The limbic system, located in the medial wall of the cerebrum, is involved in recognition, emotion, and memory formation. Especially, the amygdala and hippocampal formation, which lie under the medial temporal cortices, receive the sensory information of all modalities from the sensory association cortices, and integrate this higher order information into emotion and memory. Thus, the amygdala and hippocampal formation are essential in the higher order brain functions as key structures for emotion and memory systems in the brain, respectively. In this article, we review recent studies in neuroanatomy, neuropsychology, and behavioral sciences regarding the limbic system. Based on these studies, 1) neural circuits in the limbic system including the amygdala and hippocampal formation, 2) neural mechanisms of emotion and memory, and 3) interaction between emotion and memory systems are discussed.
