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Approximate location of Wernicke's area highlighted in gray
Wernicke's area is a part of the human brain that forms part of the cortex, on the left posterior section of the superior temporal gyrus, encircling the auditory cortex, on the Sylvian fissure (part of the brain where the temporal lobe and parietal lobe meet). It can also be described as the posterior part of Brodmann area 22 and is usually located in the left hemisphere, as that is where the specialized language skill areas can be found for the majority of people.
Wernicke's area is named after Karl Wernicke, a German neurologist and psychiatrist who, in 1874, discovered that damage to this area could cause a type of aphasia that is now called Wernicke's aphasia or receptive aphasia. This condition results in an impairment of language comprehension and in speech that has a natural-sounding rhythm and a relatively normal syntax, but otherwise has no recognisable meaning (a condition sometimes called fluent or jargon aphasia).
Wernicke's work initiated the study of this brain area and its role in language. It is particularly known to be involved in the understanding and comprehension of spoken language.
It is connected to Broca's area by a neural pathway called the arcuate fasciculus. Also connected to the primary auditory cortex for comprehension of the spoken word.
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Brain: telencephalon (cerebrum, cerebral cortex, cerebral hemispheres) |
| primary sulci/fissures |
medial longitudinal, lateral, central, parietoöccipital, calcarine, cingulate |
| frontal lobe |
precentral gyrus (primary motor cortex, 4), precentral sulcus, superior frontal gyrus (6, 8), middle frontal gyrus (46), inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area, 44-pars opercularis, 45-pars triangularis), prefrontal cortex (orbitofrontal cortex, 9, 10, 11, 12, 47) |
| parietal lobe |
postcentral sulcus, postcentral gyrus (1, 2, 3, 43), superior parietal lobule (5), inferior parietal lobule (39-angular gyrus, 40), precuneus (7), intraparietal sulcus |
| occipital lobe |
primary visual cortex (17), cuneus, lingual gyrus, 18, 19 (18 and 19 span whole lobe) |
| temporal lobe |
transverse temporal gyrus (41-42-primary auditory cortex), superior temporal gyrus (38, 22-Wernicke's area), middle temporal gyrus (21), inferior temporal gyrus (20), fusiform gyrus (36, 37) |
| limbic lobe/fornicate gyrus |
cingulate cortex/cingulate gyrus, anterior cingulate (24, 32, 33), posterior cingulate (23, 31),
isthmus (26, 29, 30), parahippocampal gyrus (piriform cortex, 25, 27, 35), entorhinal cortex (28, 34) |
| subcortical/insular cortex |
rhinencephalon, olfactory bulb, olfactory tract, corpus callosum (splenium, genu, rostrum), lateral ventricles, septum pellucidum, ependyma, internal capsule, corona radiata, external capsule, fornix (commissure of fornix), anterior commissure, posterior commissure |
| hippocampal formation |
dentate gyrus, hippocampus, subiculum |
| basal ganglia |
striatum (caudate nucleus, putamen), lentiform nucleus (putamen, globus pallidus), claustrum, extreme capsule, amygdala, nucleus accumbens |
| Some categorizations are approximations, and some Brodmann areas span gyri. |
