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Language and The Human Brain

The document summarizes research on language and speech centers in the human brain. It discusses how the left hemisphere is dominant for language in most right-handed individuals, but some left-handed people have language centers in the right hemisphere or both. It describes how electrical stimulation mapping is used to identify speech areas and explains that Wernicke's area processes language comprehension while Broca's area controls speech production.

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Dharshan Guna
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118 views2 pages

Language and The Human Brain

The document summarizes research on language and speech centers in the human brain. It discusses how the left hemisphere is dominant for language in most right-handed individuals, but some left-handed people have language centers in the right hemisphere or both. It describes how electrical stimulation mapping is used to identify speech areas and explains that Wernicke's area processes language comprehension while Broca's area controls speech production.

Uploaded by

Dharshan Guna
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Language and the Human Brain

By Dr Ananya Mandal, MD
The human brain is divided into
two hemispheres. The left
hemisphere is the "logical brain"
and is involved in language and
analysis and the right hemisphere
is the "creative brain," involved in
daydreaming and imagination.
The left hemisphere controls the
right side of the body while the
right hemisphere controls the left
side.
The earliest research on speech and language centers of the brain dates back to
the early nineteenth century. Physicians noted that brain-injured patients with
damage to the left hemisphere would lose power of speech and language
abilities, while those with injuries to the right hemisphere did not lose this ability.
Recent studies have shown that in around 97% of people, language is
represented in the left hemisphere. However, in about 19% of left-handed
people, the areas responsible for language are in the right hemisphere and as
many as 68% of them have some language abilities in both the left and the right
hemispheres.
Determination of language areas
A procedure called cortical stimulation mapping is a technique that is used to
analyze regions of the brain that are related to speech. On performing brain
surgery to treat epilepsy or remove tumors for example, electrical stimulation of
speech-related areas in the cortex prevents the patient from being able to name
things that are shown to them and may also prevent their ability to produce
grammatically coherent sentences. When such a site is indentified, it is spared,
since damaging these areas could cause a temporary or permanent loss of
speech.
Neural networks in the brain
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for neuroimaging researchNeural networks are established over time as an
individual learns and experiences things. Language and speech skills are
therefore acquired after birth. The human genome codes for the speech ability
that will evolve as the brain is trained.
Speech and language brain regions
The visual cortex is the part of the cerebral cortex that is responsible for
processing visual information.
The auditory cortex in the cerebral cortex processes auditory information and as
part of the sensory system for hearing, performs both basic and higher hearing
functions.
Wernicke's area is an area in the cerebral cortex related to speech and is
involved in both spoken and written language. This area was named after Carl

Wernicke, a German neurologist who discovered that the area is related to how
words and syllables are pronounced.
Broca's area is an area in the frontal lobe of the brain that is related to the
production of speech. The area is named after Pierre Paul Broca who noticed an
impaired ability to produce speech in two patients who had sustained injury to
the region.

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