Temporal Lobe · Structure
Wernicke's Area
Where sound turns into meaning.
Wernicke's area decodes language you hear or read. Damage here produces fluent but empty speech: sentences that flow with normal rhythm yet carry almost no meaning.
What it does
- Comprehending spoken and written language
- Retrieving the right word for a concept
- Monitoring your own speech for errors
In the real world
Mapping before surgery
Neurosurgeons wake patients mid-operation and have them name pictures, so they can avoid cutting anywhere that silences language.