5. Thinking , Planning and Language

​Language is one of the most prominent human abilities.  A neuroscientist has learned a lot about language from stroke patients.  A problem in a language is referred to as aphasia. There are 3 types of language problems Broca’s Aphasia, Wernicke’s Aphasia and word deafness. Broca's Aphasia takes place in the left frontal lobe.  Speech is impaired and it is often slow and it requires the patient a lot of effort. Although speech is impaired people with Broca's Aphasia can still comprehend language. Wernicke’s Aphasia takes place in the left temporal lobe. People with Wernicke’s Aphasia talk at a fluent rate however they cannot make proper sentences.   word deafness takes place in both sides of the temporal lobe.  They cannot who is talking or comprehend speech. Another prominent human ability is the ability to recognize objects.  A loss of this function is called agnosia.  Agnosia is defined as the loss of ability to recognize an object. A case study for this is a patient referred to as D.B.O. D.B.O suffered from many strokes. These strokes led to damage to his temporal lobe.  This damage resulted in the visual entry to the anterior temporal lobe.  D.B.O could not name objects he saw but only objects he touched this is Agnosia. Some other parts of the brain that helps us recognize objects they are fusion face area ( FFA), Parahippocampal Place Area ( PPA)  and Visual word form area ( VWFA).  The FFA is critical for recognizing faces. Damage to the FFA will cause face blindness also known as prosopagnosia. The PPA responds to specific locations such as specific buildings or cities. VWFA recognizes written letters and words.  connections between the VWFA and the rest of the brain work to establish written language.

Patient with  Wernicke's Aphasia video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oef68YabD0
Patient with Broca’s Aphasia video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWC-cVQmEmY&t=89s