1) Carl Wernicke discovered Wernicke's area, located in the left temporal lobe, which is responsible for language comprehension, semantic processing, language recognition, and interpretation.
2) Damage to Wernicke's area results in Wernicke's aphasia, where a person's speech is fluent but meaningless due to an inability to comprehend language.
3) The Wernicke-Geschwind model from the 1870s accounts for hearing, speaking, and reading through connections between Wernicke's area, Broca's area, and other language-related regions.
3. Location and Function
Located at the junction of the partiety, temporal, and
occipital lobes in the left hemisphere
Responsible for:
Language Comprehension
Semantic Processing
Language Recognition
Language Interpretation
4. Discovery
Wernicke (1874) observed that patients with damage to
the left temporal lobe had difficulty with speech and
understanding sentences
Hypothesized that an area in the left temporal lobe was
responsible for speech processing
5. Evaluation
Technology was not available at the time to scan patients so there
was not much else that could have been done
9. Symptoms
A person with Wernicke’s aphasia will most likely:
Speak in a regular pace however interchange certain words
for others making their sentences near impossible to
comprehend
Have difficulty understanding speech
Their speech is unaffected however they do not know that
what they are saying is wrong
Reading is near impossible
They do not understand what others say
10. Evaluation
Wernicke’s aphasia and damage to the Wernicke’s area
have been frequently correlated
Studies treat Wernicke’s aphasia as a given and expand
upon
Wernicke's aphasia and normal language processing: A case study
in cognitive neuropsychology.
An On-Line Analysis of Syntactic Processing in Broca's and
Wernicke's Aphasia
Recovery from wernicke's aphasia: A positron emission tomographic
study
11. Wernicke-Geschwind Model
Initially, proposed by Carl Wernicke in 1870s
In 1965, Norman Geschwind renewed the theory in 1955
Model of language
Accounts for hearing, speaking, and reading
13. Hearing
Spoken Word Area 41 Wernicke’s Area Hear and
Comprehend Word
Hearing: the hearing process starts off with a spoken
word, the sounds of the spoken words are sent through
the auditory pathway to Area 41 (primary auditory
cortex) also known as the Heschl's gyrus. Subsequently,
the sounds of the spoken words continue on to
Wernicke's area, where the meaning is educed.
14. Speaking
Cognition Wernicke’s Area Broca’s area Facial
Area of Motor Cortex Cranial Nerves Speak
Speaking: the meaning of words are process in
Wernicke's area and then sent to Broca's area, which
stores motor programs for speaking words. Moreover,
morphemes (the smallest linguistic that has sementic
meaning) are assembled here. Therefore, the model
suggests that broca's area is in charge of articulating
words. Subsequently, the instructions for words are sent
to the facial area of motor cortex and then sent to the
facial motor neurons in the brain stem, which then sends
out orders to facial muscles in order to produce sound.
15. Reading
Written word Area 17 Area 18, 19 Area 39
(angular gyrus) Wernicke’s area Read
Reading: the visual perception of words are sent to the
area 37, angular gyrus (in the parietal lobe), and then to
Wernicke's area (for silent reading), if its "reading out
loud" then it works together with Broca's area.
17. Limitations
Limited
= Research based on aphasic patients so it does not apply
to normal people
Studies that went against it (Penfield and Roberts) in 1959
= effects of the surgical removal of language ares from the
W-G model had no correlation to the deficits consistent
with the model’s predictions
18. Strengths
Experiments that supported the model
= Hecaen and Angelergues (1964)
-- they came to the same conclusion with 215 patients
suffering brain damage in the left-hemisphere
= Ojemann (1983)
--- electrically stimulated W-G areas
19. Link to video
This will enhance your understanding of the model
http://www.sagepub.com/garrettbb2study/animations/9
.23.htm
