Limbic System: Definition, Parts, Functions, and Location

By Olivia Guy-Evans, published April 22, 2021

Fact checked by Saul Mcleod, PhD

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The limbic system is a collection of structures involved in processing emotion and memory, including the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the hypothalamus. The limbic system is located within the cerebrum of the brain, immediately below the temporal lobes, and buried under the cerebral cortex (the cortex is the outermost part of the brain).

The limbic system was originally called the rhinencephalon (meaning ‘smell brain’) because it was thought to be primarily involved with the sense of smell.

Psychologists now recognize that the limbic system serves a lot more functions than previously believed. These structures are known to be involved in the processing and regulating of emotions, the formation and storage of memories, sexual arousal, and learning.

The limbic system is thought to be an important element in the body’s response to stress, being highly connected to the endocrine and autonomic nervous systems.

There are two widely accepted structures of the limbic system: the hippocampus and the amygdala. There are differing opinions as to which other structures are included in the system, and what only interacts closely with it.

The nerve cells (neurons) within the limbic system are structured differently to those in the cerebral cortex. In the cerebral cortex, the cells are mostly neocortical, meaning they are formed into six layers.

Within the limbic system, the cells are either arranged in fewer layers or are more jumbled. As there is less complexity of the cells within the limbic system, this had led people to believe that this system is evolutionarily older than the cerebral cortex itself.

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Substructures of the Limbic System

Damage to the Limbic System

Damage to the limbic system is dependant on which region is affected. Amygdala damage could affect a person’s fear processing (especially in being unable to recognize fearful situations), which could result in more risk-taking behaviors and putting themselves in dangerous situations.

Damage to the hippocampus could lead to deficits in being able to learn anything new, as well as affecting memory.

Hypothalamus damage can affect the production of certain hormones, including those which can affect mood and emotion.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of symptoms associated with limbic system damage:

• Uncontrolled emotions – more aggression, anxiety, and agitation.
• Olfactory impairments
• Memory impairments
• Abnormal sexual behavior – high/low sex drive
• Abnormal biological rhythms

Below are some cognitive disorders which have shown to be connected to the limbic system:

• Depression
• Olfactory impairments
• Obsessive compulsive disorder
• Anxiety
• Posttraumatic stress disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Bipolar disorder
• Autism spectrum conditions
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Movement disorders – Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease

A potential treatment for limbic impairments is deep brain stimulation (DBS). Successful treatment of some cognitive disorders such as anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder has come from DBS of the amygdala.

DBS has also shown to be useful in targeting the nucleus accumbens (part of the basal ganglia) in relation to drug addiction (Bari, Niu, Langevin, & Fried, 2014).

Similarly, the use of antidepressant medications has shown links with restoring the underlying physiological differences in the limbic system in major depressive disorder (Maletic et al., 2007).

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Research Studies

• Okun et al., (2004) examined the emotional changes following deep brain stimulation of the dentate gyrus (an area which is interactive with the hippocampus). The researchers found that stimulation of this area caused participants to smile spontaneously, as well as reporting feelings of euphoria.
• Milner, Corkin & Teuber (1968) found that people with damage to the hippocampus lose the ability to learn anything new. For these people, ‘yesterday’ to them is always the time before their brain damage occurred.
• Sergerie, Chochol & Armony (2008) investigated the amygdala’s response to positive and negative emotional visual stimuli. The results showed that the amygdala responded more strongly to faces which showed emotion, rather than other visual emotional stimuli.
• Grèzes, Berthoz & Passingham (2006) found that there was increased amygdala activity when participants watched themselves being deceived, compared to a control group.

  This could be due to the personal involvement by participants when they make emotional judgments involving themselves. The participants may have seen deceit as a personal threat, therefore leading to increase amygdala activity as a result.

• Morris et al., (1996) found that some patients who had damage to their amygdala were unable to recognize fear in a person’s face or voice.
• Sahin et al., (2015) investigated patients who has multiple sclerosis (MS) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It was found that a high number of patients had damage in limbic areas, which may explain why people with MS commonly experienced memory deficits and emotional dysfunction.
• DelBello, Adler & Strakowski (2006) investigated the neurophysiology of childhood and adolescent bipolar disorder. They found structural and neurochemical abnormalities in the limbic areas of the amygdala and hippocampus in young people with this disorder.
• White et al., (2008) investigated the limbic structures and networks with children and adolescents with schizophrenia.

  They found that the cingulate cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala had observable differences in structure. They also found that difference in white matter volumes tended to be more focal to the limbic system.

• Maletic et al., (2007) conducted a literature review regarding the neurobiology of major depressive disorder. They concluded that the literature showed that the limbic areas showed to be associated with emotion regulation.
• Lepage et al., (2018) investigated the limbic structures of former NFL football players, of which, a condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) tends to be diagnosed (this is a neurodegenerative disease associated with repeated head impacts).

  Compared to a control group, the former NFL players had reduced volumes of the amygdala, hippocampus, and cingulate gyrus. Therefore, this may be a potential indicator of neurodegeneration in those at risk of developing CTE.

• Milner (2003) found that the inferior (lower) temporal cortex is responsible for visual perception, therefore lesions in this area can lead to an inability to recognize faces (also known as prosopagnosia).
• There may be a link between the temporal lobes and dyslexia. As dyslexia affects reading ability and giving meaning to language, people with dyslexia may have reduced activity in their left temporal lobes.

  Valdois et al., (2019) found that impaired attentional systems within the temporal lobes can be associated with developmental dyslexia.

• Lowndes & Savage (2007) proposed that the earliest neuropsychological identification of Alzheimer’s disease may lie in the medial temporal lobe.
• Due to the superior temporal sulcus’ (STS) role in interpreting social and speech input, Redcay (2008) suggested that impairments in STS function may underlie many of the social and language difficulties in those with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
• Kasai et al., (2003) used neuroimaging techniques on patients with Schizophrenia and found structural abnormalities in their superior temporal gyrus.

  There may also be a link between auditory cortex damage/deficits and schizophrenia, as damage in this area is linked to major symptoms of schizophrenia (e.g. hearing voice and auditory hallucinations).

APA Style References

Bari, A., Niu, T., Langevin, J. P., & Fried, I. (2014). Limbic neuromodulation: implications for addiction, posttraumatic stress disorder, and memory. Neurosurgery Clinics of North America, 25(1), 137–145.

DelBello, M. P., Adler, C. M., & Strakowski, S. M. (2006). The neurophysiology of childhood and adolescent bipolar disorder. CNS Spectrums, 11(4), 298-311.

Grèzes, J., Berthoz, S., & Passingham, R. E. (2006). Amygdala activation when one is the target of deceit: did he lie to you or to someone else?. Neuroimage, 30(2), 601-608.

Lepage, C., Muehlmann, M., Tripodis, Y., Hufschmidt, J., Stamm, J., Green, K., ... & Koerte, I. K. (2019). Limbic system structure volumes and associated neurocognitive functioning in former NFL players. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 13(3), 725-734.

Maletic, V., Robinson, M., Oakes, T., Iyengar, S., Ball, S. G., & Russell, J. (2007). Neurobiology of depression: an integrated view of key findings. International Journal of Clinical Practice, 61(12), 2030-2040.

Milner, B., Corkin, S., & Teuber, H. L. (1968). Further analysis of the hippocampal amnesic syndrome: 14-year follow-up study of HM. Neuropsychologia, 6(3), 215-234.

Morris, J. S., Frith, C. D., Perrett, D. I., Rowland, D., Young, A. W., Calder, A. J., & Dolan, R. J. (1996). A differential neural response in the human amygdala to fearful and happy facial expressions. Nature, 383(6603), 812-815.

Okun, M. S., Bowers, D., Springer, U., Shapira, N. A., Malone, D., Rezai, A. R., Nuttin, B., Heilman, K. M., Morecraft, R. J., Rasmussen, S. A., Greenburg, B. D., Foote, K. D. & Goodman, W. K. (2004). What's in a “smile?” Intra-operative observations of contralateral smiles induced by deep brain stimulation. Neurocase, 10(4), 271-279.

Sahin, N., Selouan, R., Markowitz, C. E., Melhem, E. R., & Bilello, M. (2016). Limbic pathway lesions in patients with multiple sclerosis. Acta Radiologica, 57(3), 341-347.

Sergerie, K., Chochol, C., & Armony, J. L. (2008). The role of the amygdala in emotional processing: a quantitative meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 32(4), 811-830.

Stathis, P., Panourias, I. G., Themistocleous, M. S., & Sakas, D. E. (2007). Connections of the basal ganglia with the limbic system: implications for neuromodulation therapies of anxiety and affective disorders. Operative Neuromodulation, 575-586.

Tyng, C. M., Amin, H. U., Saad, M. N., & Malik, A. S. (2017). The influences of emotion on learning and memory. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1454. 

White, T., Cullen, K., Rohrer, L. M., Karatekin, C., Luciana, M., Schmidt, M., Hongwanishkul, D., Kumra, S., Schulz, C. & Lim, K. O. (2008). Limbic structures and networks in children and adolescents with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 34(1), 18-29.

Yücel, M., Wood, S. J., Fornito, A., Riffkin, J., Velakoulis, D., & Pantelis, C. (2003). Anterior cingulate dysfunction: implications for psychiatric disorders?. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 28(5), 350.