Biopsychology: Language Centres: Wernicke’s Area

Carl Wernicke discovered another area of the brain that was involved in understanding language. Wernicke found that patients with lesions to Wernicke’s area were still able to speak, but were unable to comprehend language.

Wernicke’s area is found in the left temporal lobe, and it is thought to be involved in language processing/comprehension. People with damage to this area struggle to comprehend language, often producing sentences that are fluent, but meaningless (Wernicke’s aphasia).

Wernicke concluded that language involves a separate motor and sensory region. The motor region is located in Broca’s area, and the sensory region is located in Wernicke’s area.