Broca’s area Wernicke’s area
Figure 18.2. Cortical language areas.A person with Broca’s aphasia is not paralyzed. The muscles con-
trolling movement of their mouth and tongue, for example, are all
working. The person can make sounds, often even component sounds
of words. However, she cannot organize her mouth and tongue
movements to produce language. She cannot speak. Similarly, while
her hands and fingers are not paralyzed, she is not able to organize
arm, hand, and finger movements so as to produce written language.
Broca’s aphasia is a motor apraxia specific to language. Like other
motor apraxias, it is associated with lesions to the frontal premotor
areas.
Another kind of aphasia was described by the German physician
Carl Wernicke (1848-1905). In Wernicke’s aphasia there is a problem
with the comprehension of spoken and written language. Although