Neuroanatomy
While previously thought to connect Wernicke's area and Broca's area, new research demonstrates that the arcuate fasciculus instead connects posterior receptive areas with premotor/motor areas, and not to Broca's area.
Although the regions the arcuate fasciculus connects to is a topic still in debate, the "connectivity" of the arcuate has been shown to correspond to various functional areas within the temporal, parietal, and frontal lobes As fractional anisotropy of the arcuate increases, cortical thickness increases in corresponding areas. These findings thus suggest that particular components of white matter microstructure and regional increases in cortical thickness benefit aspects of language processing. Furthermore, the topographical relationships between independent measures of white matter and gray matter integrity suggest that rich developmental or environmental interactions influence brain structure and function where the presence and strength of such associations may elucidate pathophysiological processes influencing language systems.
The function of the arcuate fasciculus in the nondominant hemisphere is not well studied.
Read more about this topic: Arcuate Fasciculus