How Wernicke’s Area Was Discovered
Early neuroscientists were interested in discovering where certain abilities were localized in the brain. This localization of brain function suggests that certain abilities, such as producing and understanding language, are controlled by certain parts of the brain.
One of the pioneers of this research was a French neurologist named Paul Broca. During the early 1870s, Paul Broca discovered a region of the brain associated with the production of spoken language. He found that damage to this area resulted in problems producing language.
Broca described one patient known as Leborgne could understand language although he could not speak aside from isolated words and a few other utterances. When Leborgne died, Broca conducted a postmortem exam on the man's brain and found a lesion in an area of the frontal lobe. This area of the brain is now referred to as Broca's area and is associated with the production of speech.
About 10 years later, a neurologist named Carl Wernicke identified a similar type of problem in which patients were able to speak but were not able to actually comprehend language. Examining the brains of patients suffering from this language problem revealed lesions at a junction of the parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes. This region of the brain is now known as Wernicke's area and is associated with the understanding of spoken and written language.
Wernicke's Aphasia
When Wernicke’s area is damaged by trauma or disease, a language aphasia can result. An aphasia is an impairment of language that affects an individual's ability to comprehend and produce both spoken and written communication. Aphasias are often the result of stroke, but they can also result from infections, tumors, and head trauma. This type of aphasia is known as Wernicke's aphasia but is also sometimes referred to as fluent aphasia, sensory aphasia, or receptive aphasia.
Wernicke's aphasia is a language disorder that impacts language comprehension and the production of meaningful language due to damage to the Wernicke's area of the brain.