Language and Speech: Broca's and Wernicke's Areas

Episode 6 is about Language and Speech: Broca's and Wernicke's Areas.

-The whole brain is involved in communication, but most of what we think of as language happens in the left hemisphere, where things are wired and structed differently than in the same area on the right.
-In 1861, Paul Broca discovered the left hemespehres role in language.

From Tom (the nickname the brain got because that was all he could say) Broca concluded the damaged part of the brain (the left) was in charge of language and therefore it is now called the Broca's area!
-Tom was rediscovered and x-rayed and in the black, on the left where Brocas is, that area was damaged and Broca was right!

Case:
A man who had a stroke and a blood clot which cut off his circulation was able to understand and express language (really slowly though)
When he was asked if an elephant or some other animal can fly he said no, but once he was asked if Zeplin can fly, he failed and simply said yes.
Afterwards, he failed another test since when he was told" a leopard was killed by the lion“ and afterwards asked who was killed, he didn’t know. His problem is that he only understood nouns and words, but was not able to put other things together, therefore not understanding the sentence.

Then, adenoidal areas in left hemisphere that contribute to language were found.
In 1874,German Karl Wernicke identified a 3rd language area in the left hemisphere. Brocas area in front (speech prod, grammer) middle corresponded to movement, and Wenicke's area both had to do with the formation of what is said and comprehension (speech seems fluent but doesn’t make sense). This was also an important discovery.

How speech is produced:
travels as nerve impulses to Wernick's area where its analysis, broca where sounds are assembled into sequences and moter cortex, which directs movement and sends signals to speech muscles.

This shows how important these three areas are for language and speech, and how when one is damaged, difficulty comes to understanding fully, expressing and others.

I think this was very interesting since I did not know Broca and Wernick's area were named after the people who discovered it, but more importantly it was very interesting to see how a patient was tested after he had damaged his broca area and the things he was still able or unable to do.