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Broca's and Wernicke's areas (additions)

Broca’s area, located in the left hemisphere, is associated with speech production and articulation. Our ability to articulate ideas, as well as use words accurately in spoken and written language, has been attributed to this crucial area. Wernicke’s area is critical to language and is in the posterior superior temporal lobe that connects to Broca’s area via a neural pathway. Wernicke's area is primarily involved in comprehension. Historically, this area has been associated with language processing, whether it is written or spoken. Phineas Gage, the neuroscience wonder had a iron rod pass through his frontal lobe. The iron rod damaged his frontal cortex and has resulted in a significant decrease in Gage’s social inhibitions. Because of this accident, scientists had their first breakthrough in the role of the frontal cortex pertaining to personality and behavior. Though this was only the beginning, it provided researchers with a stepping stone for making further inquiries about Broca’s area and its correlation to language expression. Chimpanzees and humans evidently evolved differently in terms of language. One contributing factor to this variation can be attributed to the difference between Broca’s region in humans and chimps. Human brains are 3.6 times larger than chimps, yet Broca’s area is 6 times larger in the brains of humans. Broca’s area is larger in half of a chimps brain, which could be a contributing to the diaspora of language evolution between the two.

Comparing Wernicke's area and Broca's area between Humans and Chimpanzees

Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas are on the outer area of the cerebrum and the areas allow people to comprehend and verbalize language. Specifically, Broca’s area is in the lower left front part of the gyrus, and Wernicke’s area is in the upper left back part of the gyrus. Apes and monkeys also resemble this layout which means humans and nonhuman primates may have a derived this homologously. In macaques–old world monkeys–area 44 of Broca’s area symbolizes nonverbal motions both humans and macaques hands and mouths. Wernicke’s area in macaques is believed to be tasked with making calls whereas in humans, it helps them understand language. Although humans and the other primates have a lot in common regarding location and function in Broca’s and Wernicke's area, one important difference is that humans have a stronger neural connectivity between the two areas than the nonhuman primates.

Functionality of language if Broca's or Wernicke's area is damaged

Broca’s aphasia is when that area of the brain is damaged. Commonly, people are be able to understand what is being said, but unable to form a coherent response. The brain has trouble forming a sentence because it cannot communicate to itself to find the words that are wanted. Often, people cannot articulate articles–words that modify nouns– and helping verbs. This results in patients saying “blanket me” rather than saying “I want the blanket” which can become frustrating. Wernicke’s area known as “fluent aphasia” or “receptive aphasia”. If Wernicke's area is damaged, often patients have difficulty comprehending what is being said or written, but they can still speak properly unlike patients with Broca’s aphasia. However, when they form sentences, they unknowingly add unnecessary words that do not make sense. Sometimes patients can make up words, unaware that it is non-existent.

How Broca's area and Wernicke's area are interconnected

Broca’s area is linked to different parts of the brain, namely Wernicke’s area by the arcuate fasciculus. The arcuate fasciculus helps produce speech while Broca’s area helps understand language. Therefore, together they are responsible for motor movements such as hand gestures and sensory motor abilities such as learning.