APA Dictionary of Psychology

a circular network of nerve centers and fibers in the brain that is associated with emotion and memory. It includes the hippocampus, fornix, mammillary body, anterior thalamus, cingulate cortex, and parahippocampal gyrus. Damage to any component of this system leads to amnesia. Also called Papez circle. [first described in 1937 by James W. Papez (1883–1958), U.S. neuroanatomist]