| Wernicke's area | |
|---|---|
 Wernicke's area is located in the temporal lobe, shown here in white. | |
| Details | |
| Location | Temporal lobe of the dominant cerebral hemisphere |
| Artery | Branches from the middle cerebral artery |
| Identifiers | |
| MeSH | D065813 |
| NeuroNames | 1233 |
| NeuroLex ID | nlx_144087 |
| FMA | 242178 |
| Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy | |
Wernicke's area (/ˈvɛərnɪkə/; German: [ˈvɛɐ̯nɪkə]), also called Wernicke's speech area, is one of the two parts of the cerebral cortex that are linked to speech, the other being Broca's area. It is involved in the comprehension of written and spoken language, in contrast to Broca's area, which is primarily involved in the production of language. It is traditionally thought to reside in Brodmann area 22, which is located in the superior temporal gyrus in the dominant cerebral hemisphere, which is the left hemisphere in about 95% of right-handed individuals and 70% of left-handed individuals.[1]
Damage caused to Wernicke's area results in receptive, fluent aphasia. This means that the person with aphasia will be able to fluently connect words, but the phrases will lack meaning. This is unlike non-fluent aphasia, in which the person will use meaningful words, but in a non-fluent, telegraphic manner.[2]
Emerging research on the developmental trajectory of Wernicke's area highlights its evolving role in language acquisition and processing during childhood. This includes studies on the maturation of neural pathways associated with this region, which contribute to the progressive complexity of language comprehension and production abilities in developing individuals.[3]
- ^ Rasmussen, Theodore; Milner, Brenda (1977). "The Role of Early Left-Brain Injury in Determining Lateralization of Cerebral Speech Functions". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 299 (1 Evolution and): 355–369. Bibcode:1977NYASA.299..355R. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1977.tb41921.x. ISSN 0077-8923. PMID 101116. S2CID 10981238.
- ^ "Aphasia: Signs & Symptoms". American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
- ^ Wang, Jiaojian; Fan, Lingzhong; Wang, Yinyan; Xu, Wenting; Jiang, Tao; Fox, Peter T.; Eickhoff, Simon B.; Yu, Chunshui; Jiang, Tianzi (May 2015). "Determination of the posterior boundary of Wernicke's area based on multimodal connectivity profiles". Human Brain Mapping. 36 (5): 1908–1924. doi:10.1002/hbm.22745. ISSN 1097-0193. PMC 4782781. PMID 25619891.