The cingulate gyrus is on the inner (medial) face of each hemisphere, lying immediately above the corpus callosum and curving around it from front to back. It is part of the cingulate cortex and of the limbic lobe. [1]
The 3D brain needs JavaScript. The text below still says where the cingulate gyrus is and what it does.
Slice
Opens cut by a side (sagittal) slice through the cingulate gyrus. Drag to turn, pinch or scroll to zoom, tap any part to name it; .
On the medial surface of each hemisphere, so it is visible only when the brain is cut down the middle: it lies immediately above the corpus callosum. [1]
The callosal sulcus separates it from the corpus callosum below; above, the cingulate cortex continues into the cingulate sulcus. [2][1]
At the front it continues under the knee (genu) of the corpus callosum into the subgenual area (Brodmann area 25); at the back the posterior cingulate cortex is followed by the retrosplenial cortex. [1]
Paired: one cingulate gyrus on each side of the deep midline fissure, facing each other. [1]
What it does
An integral part of the limbic system, involved in forming and processing emotion, learning and memory; together these let it link the outcome of an action to behaviour, for example learning from an action that brought a good feeling. [1]
The anterior cingulate cortex is involved in detecting errors and conflicts. [1]
It also plays a role in executive function and in control of breathing. [1]
The cingulum, the fibre bundle that runs inside it, is thought to be involved in appraising pain and in learning to correct mistakes. [3]
Connections
Inputs: from the thalamus and the neocortex. The anterior part gets most of its input from the intralaminar and midline thalamic nuclei; the posterior part much of its input from a superficial thalamic nucleus and directly from the subiculum of the hippocampus. [1]
Output: it projects to the entorhinal cortex through the cingulum, the white-matter bundle that forms its core and runs on to the parahippocampal gyrus of the temporal lobe. [1][3]
The anterior cingulate cortex sends fibres to the anterior nucleus of the thalamus and, through the cingulum, to other limbic areas; with the mammillary bodies and the subiculum of the hippocampus these form the Papez circuit. [1]
The posterior cingulate cortex (area 23) projects to the prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortex, the parahippocampal gyrus and the inferior parietal lobule. [1]
Inside it
Divided into Brodmann areas 23, 24, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33: the anterior cingulate cortex (areas 24, 32 and 33) is agranular, the posterior cingulate cortex (areas 23 and 31) is granular, and areas 26, 29 and 30 make up the retrosplenial cortex. [1]
Its white-matter core is the cingulum, a C-shaped association tract running from under the front of the corpus callosum to the parahippocampal gyrus. [3]
Other names
Latin cingulum means “belt”, likely because this cortex largely surrounds the corpus callosum. The wider region is the cingulate cortex. [1]
Broca (1878) put it in his “grand lobe limbique”; the Terminologia Anatomica (1998) includes it in the limbic lobe. [1]
Size
On this model the left cingulate gyrus measures about 111 mm front to back, 67 mm top to bottom and 28 mm side to side (the box it fits in, not its volume); the right one is its mirror image. [4]
Centre of the left cingulate gyrus compared with the centre of the corpus callosum: 5 mm further back, 4 mm higher, 9 mm further from the midline; 11 mm apart in a straight line. [4]
Centre of the left cingulate gyrus compared with the centre of the left thalamus: 17 mm higher, 3 mm closer to the midline; 18 mm apart in a straight line. [4]
Facts describe anatomy and normal function only. The 3D model is the adult male BodyParts3D brain (credits and licence); real brains vary in size and shape, so its measurements describe one model, not anyone’s brain.