Wernicke’s area is the region of the brain that is important for language development. It is located in the temporal lobe on the left side of the brain and is responsible for the comprehension of speech, while Broca’s area is related to the production of speech. Language development or use can be severely impaired by damage to Wernicke’s area of the brain.
When this area of the brain is damaged, a disorder known as Wernicke’s aphasia can arise, with the person speaking in phrases that sound fluent but still have no meaning.
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Wernicke’s area is usually in the posterior part of the temporal lobe, although the exact location may vary. It is most commonly found in the left hemisphere of the brain , but not always.
How Wernicke’s Territory Was Discovered
Early neuroscientists were interested in discovering where certain abilities were located in the brain. This localization of brain function indicates that certain skills, such as the production and understanding of language, are controlled by certain parts of the brain.
One of the pioneers of this research was a French neurologist named Paul Broca. In the early 1870s, Paul Broca discovered a region of the brain associated with the production of spoken language. He found that damage to this area resulted in language problems being produced.
Broca describes one patient known as Leborgne, able to understand language, although he could not speak of separate words and a few other pronunciations. When Leborgne died, Broca performed a postmortem examination on the man’s brain and found a lesion in an area of the anterior lobe. This area of the brain is now referred to as Broca’s area and is associated with the production of speech.
About 10 years later, a neurologist named Carl Wernicke identified a similar type of problem in which patients were able to speak but could not understand language. Examination of the brains of patients suffering from this language problem revealed lesions at a junction of the parietal, temporal and occipital lobes. This region of the brain is now known as Wernicke’s area and is associated with the understanding of spoken and written language.
Wernicke’s Aphasia
When Wernicke’s area is damaged by trauma or illness, a language aphasia can develop. An aphasia is a weakening of language that has an individual’s ability to understand and produce both spoken and written communication. Aphasias are often the result of stroke, but they can also be the result of infections, tumors and head trauma. This type of aphasia is known as Wernicke’s aphasia, but is also sometimes called fluent aphasia, sensory aphasia or receptive aphasia.
Wernicke’s aphasia is a language disorder that affects language comprehension and the production of meaningful language due to damage to the Wernicke’s brain area. Individuals with Wernicke’s aphasia have difficulty understanding spoken language, but may produce sounds, phrases, and word sequences.
While these utterances have the same rhythm as normal speech, they are not a language as no information is transmitted. This type of aphasia affects both spoken and written language.
According to the National Aphasia Association, people with Wernicke’s aphasia can usually produce regular speech that sounds normal and grammatically correct. The actual content of this speech makes little sense. Non-existent and irrelevant words are often included in the sentences these individuals produce.
To better understand how damage to Wernicke’s area affects language, it can help to see a video clip of an individual with Wernicke’s aphasia.
