Broca's & Wernicke's Areas
*Both Broca's and Wernicke's areas of the brain are directly related to speech and language * (e.g., verbal expressive output, language comprehension etc.)
Frontal Lobe: Broca’s area
- Occupies Broadmann's areas 44 and 45•
Found on third frontal convolution (i.e., inferior frontal gyrus)
- Area 45 is known as pars triangularis, involved in interpretation of language (syntax) and planning/programming of verbal responses
Frontal Lobe: Broca’s area
- Area 44 is known as pars opercularis, involved in coordination of speech organs for language production
- Paul Broca, through observations of Tan, one of first to associate BA 44, 45 with speech production
- Impairment to this area may lead to Broca’s aphasia, which is a non-fluent aphasia that is accompanied with halting, pauses between syllables and words, diminished intonation and stress. Comprehension is intact.
Temporal Lobe: Wernicke’s Area
- Occupies Broadmann's area 22
- Named after Karl Wernicke
- Involved in attaching meaning to auditory information
- Damage can result in Wernicke’s aphasia, characterized by verbal jargon and a lack of understanding others’ speech. Language is fluent, however it consists of paraphasia, neologisms and empty speech.
