What is the Difference Between Broca’s and Wernicke’s Area

The key difference between Broca’s and Wernicke’s area is that Broca’s area is a part of the cerebral cortex that helps to ensure that language is produced in a fluent way, while Wernicke’s area is a part of the cerebral cortex that makes sure the language makes sense.

There are several areas of the brain that normally play a critical role in speech and language. These areas include Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, and angular gyrus. Broca’s area is the part of the cerebral cortex associated with speech production and articulation. Wernicke’s area is the part of the cerebral cortex involved in language comprehension. Angular gyrus is located in close proximity to the parietal lobe and is associated with multiple types of language-related information, whether auditory, visual, or sensory.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Broca’s Area
3. What is Wernicke’s Area
4. Similarities – Broca’s and Wernicke’s Area
5. Broca’s vs Wernicke’s Area in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Broca’s vs Wernicke’s Area

What is Broca’s Area?

Broca’s area is a part of the cerebral cortex that helps to ensure that language is produced in a fluent way. It is the region in the frontal lobe of the dominant hemisphere, normally the left part of the brain. It is also known as the motor speech area. It is near the motor cortex and utilized in speech production. This area regulates breathing patterns while speaking and vocalization required for normal speech. It coordinates the activities of the muscles of respiration, the larynx, and pharynx, as well as those of the cheeks, lips, jaws, and tongue. If a person has damage in Broca’s area, the sounds can be made, but words cannot be formed.

Broca’s area is linked with language processing. Pierre Paul Broca was the first to discover Broca’s area. He reported the impairments in two patients that had lost the ability to speak after injury to the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (BA45) of the brain. Since then, the approximate region he identified became known as Broca’s area. Furthermore, a deficit in language production due to problems in Broca’s region is called Broca’s aphasia or excessive aphasia.

What is Wernicke’s Area?

Wernicke’s area is a part of the cerebral cortex that makes sure language makes sense. It is involved in the comprehension of written and spoken language. This region was discovered by German neurologist Carl Wernicke in 1874. Wernicke’s area is thought to reside in Broadmann area 22 (BA-22) located in the superior temporal gyrus in the dominant cerebral hemisphere, which is exactly the left hemisphere in about 95% of right-handed individuals and 70% of left-handed individuals.

This area appears to be uniquely important for the comprehension of speech sounds, and it is considered to be the receptive language or language comprehension centre. Furthermore, the damages to Wernicke’s area result in receptive, fluent aphasia (Wernicke aphasia).

What are the Similarities Between Broca’s and Wernicke’s Area?

• Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas are two parts of the cerebral cortex.
• Both regions play vital functions in speech and language.
• Both regions are located in the left hemisphere of the brain.
• Damages to both regions cause diseases like aphasia.

What is the Difference Between Broca’s and Wernicke’s Area?

Broca’s area is a part of the cerebral cortex that helps to ensure the language is produced in a fluent way, while Wernicke’s area is a part of the cerebral cortex that makes sure the language makes sense. Thus, this is the key difference between Broca’s and Wernicke’s area. Furthermore, Broca’s area is located in the frontal lobe of the brain, while Wernicke’s area is located in the temporal lobe of the brain.

The below infographic presents the differences between Broca’s and Wernicke’s area in tabular form for side by side comparison.

Summary – Broca’s vs Wernicke’s Area

Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas are two parts in the cerebral cortex of the brain. Broca’s area of the cerebral cortex helps to ensure that language is produced in a fluent way. Wernicke’s area of the cerebral cortex works to make sure the language makes sense. This is a summary of the difference between Broca’s and Wernicke’s area.

Reference:

1. “Broca’s Area.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.
2. “Wernicke Area.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Broca’s area – lateral view” By Polygon data were generated by Database Center for Life Science(DBCLS)[2]. – Polygon data are from BodyParts3D (CC BY-SA 2.1 jp) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Wernicke’s area – lateral view” By Polygon data were generated by Database Center for Life Science(DBCLS)[2]. – Polygon data are from BodyParts3D (CC BY-SA 2.1 jp) via Commons Wikimedia