Wernicke’s Area is a region in the left superior temporal lobe (near the auditory cortex, at the posterior part of the superior temporal gyrus) that is essential for language comprehension. Identified by German neurologist Carl Wernicke in the 19th century, this area was found to be damaged in patients who could speak fluently but produced nonsensical language and had severe understanding deficits – a syndrome now known as Wernicke’s aphasia. Functionally, Wernicke’s area enables the processing and interpretation of spoken and written language; it allows us to assign meaning to words and sentences and is involved in lexical retrieval and semantic integration during communication.
When Wernicke’s area is damaged (for instance, by a stroke or brain injury), the individual may exhibit Wernicke’s aphasia – fluent speech that lacks meaningful content and poor comprehension of others’ speech – and SLPs must focus therapy on improving auditory comprehension skills, self-monitoring of language output, and strategies to convey meaning effectively.
Javed, Kinaan, Vamsi Reddy, Joe M. Das, and Michael Wroten. “Neuroanatomy, Wernicke Area.” In StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island, FL: StatPearls Publishing (2023).
Binder, Jeffrey R. “The Wernicke Area: Modern Evidence and a Reinterpretation.” Neurology (2015).
