The cingulate gyrus is a long gyrus in the medial part of the cerebral hemisphere. It wraps completely around the corpus callosum, ending anteriorly under the genu of the callosum in the frontal lobe and posteriorly behind the splenium of the callosum in the parietal lobe. The cingulate gyrus is limited above by the cingulate sulcus which separates it from the superior frontal gyrus above. The cingulate gyrus is reciprocally connected with anterior nucleus of the thalamus, and it projects to the entorhinal cortex of parahippocampal gyrus (of the temporal lobe) via the cingulum (see above). These two connections are both part of the classic Papez circuit. Thus cingulate gyrus functions as an integral part of the limbic system; in fact, when joined with the parahippocampal gyrus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the cingulate gyrus is the largest part of the “limbic lobe” or “limbic ring” of the cortex that originally motivated giving the limbic system its name.
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