Language Center - Older Models

Older Models

The differentiation of speech production into only two large sections of the brain (i.e. Broca's and Wernicke's areas), accepted long before the advent of medical imaging techniques, is now considered outdated. Broca's Area was first suggested to play a role in speech function by the French neurologist and anthropologist Paul Broca in 1861. The basis for this discovery was analysis of speech problems resulting from injuries to this region of the brain, located in the inferior frontal gyrus. Lesions to Broca's Area resulted primarily in disruptions to speech production. Damage to Wernicke's Area, which is located in the lower part of the temporal lobe, lead mainly to disruptions in speech reception. This area was named for German doctor Carl Wernicke, who discovered it in 1874 in the course of his research into aphasias (loss of ability to speak).

Broca's Area is today still considered an important language center, playing a central role in processing syntax, grammar, and sentence structure.

In summary, these early research efforts demonstrated that semantic and structural speech production takes place in different areas of the brain.