Broca's / Wernicke's area Flashcards
Where are the Broca and Wernicke areas found?
In the left hemisphere of the brain
Where is the Broca’s area found in the left hemisphere?
In the inferior posterior frontal lobe
Who is Broca’s area named after?
What did this person study and find out?
Named after French neurosurgeon, Paul Broca, who treated patients who couldn’t speak.
He treated a patient referred to as ‘Tan’ as this was his only spoken syllable.
Broca realised they all had damaged left-hemispheres.
Define lateralisation
Each hemisphere having specific functions
What is the real world case that supports the concept of Broca’s area?
Sarah Scott, a youtuber who advocated for governmental support with those suffering from strokes, had a stroke as an Alevel student and couldn’t speak fluently after.
10 years later, she has recovered most lost function, but gets tired quickly / loses memory quickly.
Who is Wernicke’s area named after?
What do patients suffer from if they have a lesion here?
Carl Wernicke, a German neurologist, discovered this area is involved in language comprehension.
Patients can speak but don’t make sense, and cannot understand language.
What does the Broca’s area do?
What does the Wernicke’s area do?
Broca’s - Involved in language production
Wernicke’s - involved in language comprehension + development
Where is the Wernicke’s area found?
in the posterior part of the left temporal lobe.
What are the 4 research method issues with the findings of both Broca’s and Wernicke’s area?
-Generalisability issue, as studies like ‘Tan’ Can’t be applied to normal population.
-difficulty/ unreliability as damaged brain is being compared to a healthy brain.
-difficult to replicate case studies
-Validity cannot therefore be tested.
