Neuroscience Bite: Broca's Area

Broca's Area is the motor speech area of the brain. What does that mean? Your brain works with language in what is called "a verbal code" amongst other things - its basically just the way that your brain represents language. When you want to "speak" Broca's Area translates the verbal code into motor commands which then can be used to contracts the muscles needed to produce speech. People with Broca's Aphasia have damage to this area and are unable to comprehensible speech - but they can produce sounds that have no meaning. It is also important to realize that Broca's Area is also a part of the overall language process and works with areas like Wernicke's Area for speech comprehension and production.