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LANGUAGE PROCESSING AND COMPREHENSION

A major function of BA 47 is language processing and comprehension. Although Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas are often the major foci of neuroanatomical studies related to language, research has discovered that these two areas are not as integral to language comprehension than originally thought; other structures like BA 47 play a major role (Dronkers, Wilkins, Van Valin, Redfern, & Jaeger, 2004; Ardila, Bernal, & Rosselli, 2017). Specifically, BA 47 is active in tasks regarding semantics, or identifying the meaning of words and sentences (Dapretto & Bookheimer, 1999; Dronkers et al., 2004; Ardila et al., 2017). To understand language semantics, consider Dapretto and Bookheimer’s (1999) study where participants needed to identify that there was a difference between the sentences, “The man was attacked by the Doberman,” and “The man was attacked by the Pitbull.” While sentence form was similar, the words Doberman and Pitbull had different meanings, specifically dog breeds. This is indicative of a change in semantics. Having defined what semantics are, it is important to identify the functional limitations of individuals with damage to BA 47. Patients with lesions to BA 47 often reported difficulty engaging in tasks that required one to process words and tasks that required one to be familiar with grammatical rules (Dronkers et al., 2004). Additionally, while strokes involving BA 44 (Broca’s area) and 45 relate to more serious losses, strokes involving BA 47 do disrupt one’s ability to engage in repetition, identifying objects, and reading out loud (Molitoris, Seay, Crinon, Newhart, Davis, & Hillis, 2010).

Recently, studies have determined that BA 47 is involved in processing more than just spoken language. Considering BA 47’s role in language semantics, it is essential to note that this function is not related only to spoken communication BA 47 is also important for identifying semantics in sign language (Petitto, Zatorre, Gauna, Nikelski, Dostie, & Evans, 2000). BA 47 plays a role in helping us determine what spoken words mean as well as what signed words mean. This finding that similar areas of the brain are active when processing different types of linguistic information is especially interesting considering the fact that that the sensory modalities involved in spoken and sign language are different, the former involving audition and the latter involving vision (Petitto et al., 2000). Furthermore, in addition to language processing, BA 47 helps us process music. Levitin and Menon (2003) found that BA 47 showed greater activation when individuals were presented with “scrambled” sounds that violated their expectations versus sounds that went together and confirmed their expectations. That is, with disrupted musical structure, participants required more brain processing for musical comprehension, and that happened in BA 47.

REFERENCES:

Ardila, A., Bernal, B., & Rosselli, M. (2017). Should Broca’s area include Brodmann area 47? Psicothema, 29(1), 73-77. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2016.11

Dapretto, M., & Bookheimer, S. Y. (1999). Form and content: Dissociating syntax and semantics in sentence comprehension. Neuron, 24(2), 427-432. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0896-6273(00)80855-7

Dronkers, N. F., Wilkins, D. P., Van Valin, R. D., Redfern, B. B., & Jaeger, J. J. (2004). Lesion analysis of the brain areas involved in language comprehension. Cognition, 92(1-2), 145-177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2003.11.002

Levitin, D. J., & Menon, V. (2003). Musical structure is processed in “language” areas of the brain: A possible role for Brodmann area 47 in temporal coherence. NeuroImage, 20(4), 2142-2152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.08.016

Molitoris, J., Seay, M., Crinon, J., Newhart, M., Davis, C., & Hillis, A. (2010, May 23-27). The role of Brodmann area 47 in acute stroke Patients with language impairment [Conference session]. Clinical Aphasiology 2010 Conference, Isle of Palms, SC, United States. http://aphasiology.pitt.edu/2162/

Petitto, L. A., Zatorre, R. J., Gauna, K., Nikelski, E. J., Dostie, D., & Evans, A. C. (2000). Speech-like cerebral activity in profoundly deaf people processing signed languages: Implications for the neural basis of human language. PNAS, 97(25), 13961–13966. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.97.25.13961