8.1.3 Language Pathways Flashcards
What hemisphere are language pathways primarily found?
Left hemisphere
What does Broca’s area do?
Responsible for speech production
Where is Broca’s area?
Infero-lateral frontal lobe
Sits near to mouth/pharynx part of PMC
What does damage to Broca’s area result in?
Broca’s Aphasia
Staccato speech
Patient understands what is being said to them, but unable to properly speak
What does Wernicke’s area do?
Responsible for comprehension of speech
Where is Wernicke’s area found?
Temporal lobe
Spans parieto-temporal junction
Sits near primary auditory cortex in temporal lobe
What does damage to Wernicke’s area result in?
Wernicke’s Aphasia
Fluent gibberish
Patient does not appear to understand what is being said to them and unable to convey thoughts
Broca’s receptive dysphasia, as Broca’s is fine, so no issue producing speech
What effects can middle cerebral artery infarcts have on speech?
Global aphasia, both areas destroyed leading to virtually no verbal language function
What connects Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas?
Arcuate fasciculus
White matter pathway
Unidirectional pathway
What does damage to the arcuate fasciculus cause?
Inability to repeat heard words
Identify Broca’s, Wernicke’s and the arcuate fasciculus on the image
Outline the pathway for repeating a heard word
Auditory Cortex, message relayed to the Wernicke’s area
Wernicke’s communicates with Broca’s via the Arcuate Fasciculus
Broca’s communicates with the primary motor cortex to produce sound
Outline the pathway for speaking a written word
Visual cortex in the occipital lobe communicates with Wernecke’s
Wernecke’s communicates with Broca’s via the arcuate fasciculus
Broca’s communicates with PMC to speak
Outline the pathway for speaking a thought
Impulses from all over the brain communicate with Wernicke’s not from one area only
