Wernicke's area
- noun
- /ˈwɜrnɪkəz ˈɛəriə/
- Specialized
:
área de Wernicke
- In language production, damage to Wernicke's area makes a person's speech full of function words but devoid of content words, resulting in speech that is meaningless.
- Wernicke's area and Broca
Examples
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Until recently, most professional sources have attributed our proficiency with language to a pair of knuckle-sized regions on the brain's left side called Broca's area and Wernicke's area.
Academic text (2008) -
In the posterior half of the same hemisphere lies Wernicke's area, the sensory speech center.
Academic text (1995) -
It would enter into your Wernicke's area.
Academic text (2010) -
Wernicke's area is where the brain comprehends and interprets language.
Academic text (2010) -
Persons with damage to their Wernicke's area (who have Wernicke's aphasia) can speak, but their words pouring out make no sense.
Academic text (2010) -
Wernicke's area is associated with hearing, whereas Broca's area is associated with the neurons that activate the muscles of the larynx.
Academic text (2010) -
These areas correspond to Broca's area, Wernicke's area, and the posterior language association area (Pinel, 2000).
Academic text (2010) -
The localization of Broca's and Wernicke's areas in the left hemisphere is more constant than human dexterity: not only right-handers, but also most left-handers, have their speech centers in the left hemisphere.
Academic text (1995) -
Wernicke's area is responsible for language comprehension and is located in the posterior part of the brain.
-
When people suffer damage to Wernicke's area, they often struggle to understand spoken language.
Synonyms
An area at the back of the brain that helps people understand spoken and written language
Surface Forms
Morphology
Wernicke's + area
This is an eponymic term: 'Wernicke's' is a proper name with no transparent lexical meaning for most learners, while 'area' only signals a region. Knowing the constituents therefore does not allow a B1 learner to infer the specific neuroanatomical location or its function in language comprehension, so the expression is opaque.
Etymology
Wernicke's area is named after a German doctor, Carl Wernicke, who noticed that people with damage there could still speak but could not understand speech. That's why Wernicke's area now refers to the part of the brain that helps with 'understanding language'.
