Cortical area · one in each half of the brain
Isthmus of the cingulate
Also called Isthmus cingulate, Largely the retrosplenial cortex
The narrow bend of the cingulate: helping you find your way and place your memories.
The isthmus of the cingulate is the narrow part where the cingulate belt curves down behind the back end of the corpus callosum and joins memory areas in the temporal lobe. Much of it is made up of the retrosplenial cortex, a key player in navigation. It helps you use landmarks to find your way, recognize familiar places, and connect scenes to your memories.
Where it is
On the inner surface of each half of the brain, where the cingulate curves down and around the back end of the corpus callosum, deep toward the back of the head.
What it does
Navigating by landmarks
It helps you figure out which way to go based on landmarks you recognize.
Switching viewpoints
It is thought to translate between your first-person view and a bird's-eye map, like matching the street in front of you to the map on your phone.
Familiar places
It responds strongly to scenes and places you know well.
Memories of events
It helps connect what happened to where it happened, and supports imagining future scenes.
Think of it as a built-in map reader: it turns what you see in front of you, like a church on the corner, into where you are on the map in your head.
Works with
- HippocampusIt works with the hippocampus to build and use mental maps.
- Parahippocampal gyrusThis neighbor recognizes scenes and places and passes that information along.
- Anterior nucleus of the thalamusThis thalamic nucleus, important for memory and for sensing which way your head is facing, is one of its main partners.
- Entorhinal cortexIt links to the entorhinal cortex, home of grid cells that act like a coordinate system for space.
- Posterior cingulate cortexIt sits right below the posterior cingulate and shares its role in memory.
- PrecuneusThe precuneus helps it picture scenes and track where you are.
When it goes wrong
A special kind of getting lost
Damage here, for example from a stroke, can leave people able to recognize landmarks but unable to tell which direction to head from them.
Alzheimer's disease
This area is affected early in Alzheimer's disease, which may help explain why getting lost in familiar places can be an early sign.
Memory loss
Damage can also cause trouble remembering recent events, a condition called retrosplenial amnesia.
For learning only, not medical advice. If you have a health concern, talk to a doctor.
Surprising facts
- In animals, some cells here act like an inner compass, firing when the head points in a particular direction.
- Brain scans often catch it working when people find their way around virtual-reality worlds or look at familiar landmarks.
Where the name comes from
"Isthmus" comes from the Greek "isthmos", a narrow neck of land joining two larger areas, like the Isthmus of Panama. The name retrosplenial means "behind the splenium", the thick back end of the corpus callosum.
Quick quiz
3 questions. Your answers are saved and come back in your daily review.
Which of these is a job of the isthmus of the cingulate?
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Navigating by landmarks. It helps you figure out which way to go based on landmarks you recognize.
Navigating by landmarks. It helps you figure out which way to go based on landmarks you recognize.
The isthmus of the cingulate is part of which larger structure?
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Cingulate cortex. It belongs to the cingulate cortex.
Cingulate cortex. It belongs to the cingulate cortex.
Which part fits this description? "Like a built-in map reader: it turns what you see in front of you, like a church on the corner, into where you are on the map in your head."
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Isthmus of the cingulate. It is the isthmus of the cingulate. The narrow bend of the cingulate: helping you find your way and place your memories.
Isthmus of the cingulate. It is the isthmus of the cingulate. The narrow bend of the cingulate: helping you find your way and place your memories.
These parts now come back in your daily review, just before you would forget them.
Practice it and its neighbors in 3DSources
- Retrosplenial Cortex Codes for Permanent Landmarks, PLOS ONE
- Neuroanatomy, Cingulate Cortex, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf
- Retrosplenial Amnesia, Brain (Oxford Academic)
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