Wernicke's area

American  

[wur-ni-kuhz air-ee-uh, vair-ni-keez] / ˈwɜr nɪ kəz ˌɛər i ə, ˈvɛər nɪ kiz /

noun

Anatomy.

1. a portion of the left posterior temporal lobe of the brain, including the posterior of the superior temporal gyrus and adjacent areas, and associated with the ability to understand words.

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Wernicke's area Scientific  

/ vĕr′nĭ-kēz,-kəz /

1. An area located in the rear of the left temporal lobe of the brain. It is associated with the ability to recognize and understand spoken language. It is named for its discoverer, German neurologist and psychologist Carl Wernicke (1848–1905).

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Etymology

Origin of Wernicke's area

First recorded in 1905–10; after German neurologist Karl Wernicke (1848–1905), who discovered it

Example Sentences

In the second stage, the network was trained to reproduce Broca's area, which, under the influence of Wernicke's area, is responsible for producing and articulating words.

From Science Daily • Mar. 18, 2024

The procedure was successful — the tumor was removed from her brain’s Wernicke’s area — but there were some side effects: The former soprano developed epilepsy and also now finds communication challenging.

From New York Times • Nov. 3, 2022

Language is understood in Wernicke’s area, named for the German neurologist Carl Wernicke, who published his research later in the nineteenth century.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 7, 2019

The aphasia associated with Wernicke’s area is known as a receptive aphasia, which is not a loss of speech production, but a loss of understanding of content.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

This part of the brain, called Wernicke’s area, is the part that “hears” and decodes language.

From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith