Damage to which brain region is most closely associated with language comprehension deficits?

Damage to which brain region is most closely associated with language comprehension deficits?

• A. Wernicke's area
• B. Broca's area
• C. Primary auditory cortex
• D. Primary visual cortex

Answer: (A)

Language comprehension deficits point to Wernicke's area because this region, in the dominant hemisphere's posterior superior temporal gyrus, is where auditory language input is decoded into meaning. When it’s damaged, speech can be fluent and well-intonated, but it often lacks meaningful content, and understanding spoken language becomes impaired. Repetition also suffers because the connection between sounds and their meanings is disrupted. By contrast, Broca's area mainly controls speech production and grammar, so damage there tends to cause nonfluent, effortful speech with relatively better comprehension. The primary auditory cortex handles basic sound perception, and the primary visual cortex handles visual processing, neither of which specifically explains language comprehension deficits.

Language comprehension deficits point to Wernicke's area because this region, in the dominant hemisphere's posterior superior temporal gyrus, is where auditory language input is decoded into meaning. When it’s damaged, speech can be fluent and well-intonated, but it often lacks meaningful content, and understanding spoken language becomes impaired. Repetition also suffers because the connection between sounds and their meanings is disrupted. By contrast, Broca's area mainly controls speech production and grammar, so damage there tends to cause nonfluent, effortful speech with relatively better comprehension. The primary auditory cortex handles basic sound perception, and the primary visual cortex handles visual processing, neither of which specifically explains language comprehension deficits.