Wernicke's area
/ˈwəːnɪkəz
/ /ˈvɛː-/noun Anatomy
A region of the brain concerned with the comprehension of language, located in the cortex of the dominant temporal lobe. Damage in this area causes Wernicke’s aphasia, characterized by superficially fluent, grammatical speech but an inability to use or understand more than the most basic nouns and verbs.The study involved twins in Finland and focused on gray matter in the frontal lobes and Wernicke's area....
- In contrast, Wernicke's aphasia is characterized by fluent articulation coupled with severely impaired comprehension.
- They found that a portion of Wernicke's area, which is believed to control language comprehension and auditory processing, was significantly enlarged in stutterers.
Origin
Late 19th century: named after Karl Wernicke (1848–1905), German neuropsychiatrist.