James Wenceslas Papez (;Livingston, Kenneth E.

'. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1981 1883–1958) was an American

neuroanatomist Neuroanatomy is the study of the structure and organization of the nervous system. In contrast to animals with radial symmetry, whose nervous system consists of a distributed network of cells, animals with bilateral symmetry have segregated, defin ...

, most famous for his 1937 description of the

Papez circuit The Papez circuit ,Livingston, Kenneth E. '. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1981 or medial limbic circuit, is a neural circuit for the control of emotional expression. In 1937, James Papez proposed that the circuit connecting the hypothalam ...

, a

neural In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes t ...

pathway in the

brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

thought to be involved in the cortical control of

emotion Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...

. Specifically, Papez hypothesized that the hippocampus, the cingulate gyrus (Broca's callosal lobe), the hypothalamus, the anterior thalamic nuclei, and the interconnections among these structures constituted a harmonious mechanism which elaborate the functions of emotions.Papez JW. 1937. A proposed mechanism of emotion. 1937. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 1995 Winter;7(1):103-12. Papez never mentioned Broca's

limbic lobe The limbic lobe is an arc-shaped cortical region of the limbic system, on the medial surface of each cerebral hemisphere of the mammalian brain, consisting of parts of the frontal, parietal and temporal lobes. The term is ambiguous, with some au ...

but others noted that his circuit was very similar to Broca's great limbic lobe.Lima, D.R.,2004. History of Medicine, Medsi, RJ. http://www.editoraguanabara.com.br/ Papez received his MD from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

College of

Medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

and

Surgery Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...

. He was a neurologist at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and curator of the Wilder Brain Collection when he published his 1937 journal article.

References

1883 births 1958 deaths University of Minnesota Medical School alumni American neuroscientists American neurologists American people of Czech descent {{US-physician-stub

See also

References