Table of contents:
- Where the Broca and Wernicke area are located
- Broca and Wernicke's area: differences
- Wernicke's area: functions and diseases
- Wernicke's aphasia
- Broca's area: functions and diseases
- Broca's aphasia
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This question has been studied from various branches of psychology and has been a mystery until the arrival of scientific and technological advances to this discipline. Neuroimaging and neuropsychology techniques have confirmed the existence of two fundamental areas for speech and language understanding: Broca's area and Wernicke's area. Both systems were discovered centuries ago, but it was not until a few decades ago that it was found out exactly how they work.
In this Psychology-Online article " Broca and Wernicke's area: differences and functions ", we will talk about these sets of neurons so important in our brain, where they are found and how exactly they work.
You may also be interested in: Parts of the brain and their functions Index- Where the Broca and Wernicke area are located
- Broca and Wernicke's area: differences
- Wernicke's area: functions and diseases
- Broca's area: functions and diseases
Where the Broca and Wernicke area are located
First of all, it is important to be clear that these areas are part of the Central Nervous System (CNS), that is, they are located in the lobes of the brain.
- Broca's area (1) is responsible for producing language and is located in the left hemisphere, more specifically in the lower part of the frontal lobe.
- Wernicke's area (2) is responsible for sound understanding and we can usually find it in the left hemisphere, although in 30% of left-handed people and 10% of right-handed people it is in the right hemisphere. This area belongs to the temporal lobe and is highly related to the auditory area.
- The broca area and Wernicke's area are connected by a group of nerve fibers known as the acheate bundle.
Broca and Wernicke's area: differences
Although both systems are closely related to the human being's ability to communicate, there are several differences between Broca and Wernicke's area that we must mention.
First of all, it is important to know that Broca 's area is involved in the ordering of phonemes (minimum unit of language) in words and in the joining of words to form phrases and sentences, while Wernicke's area is responsible to process the sounds we hear and relate them to speech and language we already know.
That is, thanks to the Wernicke area we understand what we are told. In addition, Wernicke's area is next to the system in charge of processing sounds, so it is easier to remember its function if we remember where it is.
Image: PsicoWisdomIn summary: the main difference between the Broca area and the Wernicke area is that the former is responsible for planning the way we speak and the latter is responsible for understanding what we are told.
Wernicke's area: functions and diseases
Finally, to understand Broca and Wernicke's area: differences and functions, it is essential to know the origin of both terms.
These concepts were discovered from medical cases in which people with injuries to certain areas of the brain were unable to either speak or understand language and, upon forensic analysis, they found that all injured areas were the same.
In 1874, Karl Wernicke discovered that certain patients whose brains had been damaged could not speak in a structured way. Although they pronounced well and their words made sense, the message could not be understood. What happened to them then, is that they were unable to understand language.
The lesion that all these patients had in common was located in the posterior part of the temporal lobe, in Brodmann areas 21 and 22. From the study of this type of lesions, Wernicke gave the affected area his name, stating that this was the one in charge of understanding language.
Today, we define Wernicke's area as a set of neural networks in charge of processing typical speech sounds and expressing them as words and concepts, that is, its function is to decode phonemes. Despite not being a "word selector" system, this area is necessary to carry out the production of a fluent and understandable speech.
Wernicke's aphasia
By affecting the decoding of phonemes, Wernicke's aphasia is characterized by the inability to understand a message or repeat it. As we have commented previously, patients with this type of injury do not correctly understand what they are told and, as a result of this, they do not generate a logical discourse.
Broca's area: functions and diseases
This area of the cerebral cortex was discovered before the Wernicke Area, 13 years earlier to be more specific. In 1861, the neurosurgeon Paul Broca discovered that some people with speech difficulties had a lesion in Brodmann's areas 44 and 45. Nowadays, we know that Broca's area is part of a system of neurons in charge of ordering phonemes (minimum units of language) in words and, furthermore, it is also an access area for verbs and functional words.
That is, Broca's area is the one in charge of the relational aspects of language and grammar and, in addition, it is the area of the nervous system in charge of storing functional words such as verbs.
In summary, the main functions of Broca's area are:
- Produce logical and understandable sounds (speech)
- Process language
- Control the neurons responsible for facial movement
Broca's aphasia
People who suffer an injury in this area end up presenting Broca's aphasia, this neurophysiological disease is characterized by the difficulty in producing words and joining elements in a sentence (loss of communicative ability). That is, a person with Broca's aphasia will not be able to express himself correctly or form complete sentences.
These types of injuries are quite disabling but can be improved through rehabilitation and a lot of practice to re-educate the facial muscles.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Broca and Wernicke's Area: Differences and Functions, we recommend that you enter our Neuropsychology category.
References- Castaño, J. (2003). Neurobiological bases of language and its alterations. Rev Neurol , 36 (8), 781-5.
- Brodmann, K. (1909). Comparative location of the cerebral cortex. In comparative location of the cerebral cortex. Brodmann's areas are a very widespread classification system of the cerebral cortex in the world of neuroanatomy.
- Binder, JR (2015). The Wernicke area Modern evidence and a reinterpretation. Neurology , 10-1212.