The anterior temporo-insular cortex in the macaque consists of the highest-order sensory processing stations for all the sensory modalities. We have proposed that this cortex contains the stored representations of stimuli to which the organism has been exposed. The storage is presumed to be the result of activation by anterior temporo-insular neurons of a limbo-thalamo-cortical pathway, which actually consists of two parallel pathways, one involving the amygdala, the magnocellular portion of nucleus medialis dorsalis, and orbital frontal cortex, and the other involving the hippocampus, anterior thalamic nuclei, and the anterior cingulate cortex. Recognition memory occurs when the stored representation of a past stimulus is reactivated by a current stimulus, and associative memory occurs when that stored representation is linked to the stored representation of another stimulus or another event, such as a location, an emotion, or a motor act. Evidence has been obtained suggesting that the amygdaloid circuit is selectively involved in the first of these functions (i.e. stimulus-stimulus associations), whereas the hippocampal circuit is selectively involved in the second (i.e. stimulus-location associations). All of these forms of memory can be distinguished from habits, which appear to be independent of the limbo-thalamic system and may depend instead on the cortico-striatal system.