Which part of the brain controls speech?
Language requires an intricate coordination of many brain areas. Damage any one of several cortical areas alone can cause aphasia(impaired language)Damage Broca’s area in the left frontal lobe and a person may sing familiar songs with ease but struggle to form words and speak. People who damage Wernicke’s area in the left temporal lobe were unable to comprehend other people words and could speak only meaningless words. Process of reading aloud: Start in occipital lobe and visual areas, transformed into auditory code in the angular gyrus, understood in Wernicke’s area, then to Broca’s area which controls the motor cortex to create and pronounce words. Language requires the coordination of sound, sight, touch, memory,even emotion. It requires both motor/sensory and the higher mental functions of the frontal lobe and association areas. Seams so simple, automatic.
