Wernickes Area in the Brain

Wernicke's Area in the Brain The function of a part of the human brain known as Wernickes area is to enable us to comprehend written and spoken language. It is located posterior to the primary auditory complex in the left temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain where information processing of all kinds takes place. Wernickes area  is connected to another brain region involved in language processing known as Brocas area. Located in the lower portion of the left frontal lobe, Brocas area controls motor functions involved with speech production. Together, these two brain areas help us to speak as well as to interpret, process, and understand spoken and written language. Discovery German neurologist Carl Wernicke is credited with discovering the function of this brain region in 1873. He did so while observing individuals with damage to the posterior temporal lobe of the brain. He noticed that one of his stroke patients, while able speak and hear, was not able to comprehend what was being said to him. Nor could he understand written words. After the man died, Wernicke studied his brain and discovered a lesion in the rear parietal/temporal region of the left hemisphere of the patients brain, located close to the auditory region. He concluded that this section had to be responsible for language comprehension. Function Wernickes Area of the brain is responsible for multiple functions. According to various studies, including the 2016 publication The Role of Wernicke’s Area in Language Comprehension by Alfredo Ardila, Byron Bernal, and Monica Rosselli, these functions seem to contribute to language understanding by allowing us to interpret the meaning of individual words and using them in their proper context. Wernicke's Aphasia A condition called Wernickes aphasia, or fluent aphasia, in which patients with damage to their temporal lobe region have difficulty comprehending language and communicating ideas, bolsters the thesis that Wernickes area primarily governs word comprehension. While they are able to speak words and form sentences that are grammatically correct, these patients cannot form sentences that make sense. They may include unrelated words or words that have no meaning in their sentences. These individuals lose the ability to connect words with their appropriate meanings. They are often unaware that what they are saying does not make sense. Processing the symbols that we call words, encoding their meanings into our brains, and then using them in context is what forms the very basis of language comprehension. A Three-Part Process Speech and language processing are complex functions that involve several parts of the cerebral cortex. Wernickes area, Brocas area, and the angular gyrus are three regions vital to language processing and speech. Wernickes area is connected to Brocas area by a group of nerve fiber bundles called the arcuate fascilicus. While Wernickes area helps us to understand language, Brocas area helps us to accurately communicate our ideas to others through speech. The angular gyrus, located in the parietal lobe, is a region of the brain that helps us to utilize different types of sensory information to comprehend language. Sources: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Aphasia. NIH Pub. No. 97-4257. Updated June 1, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/aphasia.National Aphasia Foundation. (n.d.). Wernickes aphasia. Retrieved from aphasia.org/aphasia-resources/wernickes-aphasia/

The Shailendra Kingdom of Java

The Shailendra Kingdom of Java In the 8th century CE, a Mahayana Buddhist kingdom sprang up on the central plain of Java, now in Indonesia. Â  Soon, glorious Buddhist monuments flowered across the Kedu Plain - and the most incredible of them all was the massive stupa of Borobudur. Â  But who were these great builders and believers? Â  Unfortunately, we do not have many primary historical sources about the Shailendra Kingdom of Java. Â  Here is what we know, or suspect, about this kingdom. Like their neighbors, the Srivijaya Kingdom of the island of Sumatra, the Shailendra Kingdom was a great ocean-going and trading empire. Â  Also known as a thalassocracy, this form of government made perfect sense for a people located at the linch-pin point of the great Indian Ocean maritime trade. Â  Java is midway between the silks, tea, and porcelains of China, to the east, and the spices, gold, and jewels of India, to the west. Â  In addition, of course, the Indonesian islands themselves were famous for their exotic spices, sought after all around the Indian Ocean basin and beyond. Archaeological evidence suggests, however, that the people of Shailendra did not rely entirely upon the sea for their living. Â  The rich, volcanic soil of Java also yielded bountiful harvests of rice, which could have been consumed by the farmers themselves or traded to passing merchant ships for a tidy profit. Â   Where did the Shailendra people come from? Â  In the past, historians and archaeologists have suggested various points of origin for them based on their artistic style, material culture, and languages. Â  Some said they came from Cambodia, others India, still others that they were one and the same with the Srivijaya of Sumatra. Â  It seems most likely, however, that they were native to Java, and were influenced by far-flung Asian cultures through the sea-borne trade. Â  The Shailendra seem to have emerged around the year 778 CE. Interestingly, at that time there was already another great kingdom in Central Java. Â  The Sanjaya dynasty was Hindu rather than Buddhist, but the two seem to have gotten along well for decades. Â  Both also had ties with the Champa Kingdom of the Southeast Asian mainland, the Chola Kingdom of southern India, and with Srivijaya, on the nearby island of Sumatra. The ruling family of Shailendra does seem to have intermarried with the rulers of Srivijaya, in fact. Â  For example, the Shailendra ruler Samaragrawira made a marriage alliance with the daughter of a Maharaja of Srivijaya, a woman called Dewi Tara. Â  This would have cemented trade and political ties with her father, the Maharaja Dharmasetu. For around 100 years, the two great trading kingdoms in Java seem to have peacefully coexisted. Â  However, by the year 852, the Sanjaya seem to have pushed the Sailendra out of Central Java. Â  Some inscriptions suggest that the Sanjaya ruler Rakai Pikatan (r. 838 - 850) overthrew the Shailendra king Balaputra, who fled to the Srivijaya court in Sumatra. Â  According to legend, Balaputra then took power in Srivijaya. Â  The last known inscription mentioning any member of the Shailendra dynasty is from the year 1025, when the great Chola emperor Rajendra Chola I launched a devastating invasion of Srivijaya, and took the last Shailendra king back to India as a hostage. It is terribly frustrating that we do not have more information about this fascinating kingdom and its people. Â  After all, the Shailendra were quite obviously literate - they left inscriptions in three different languages, Old Malay, Old Javanese, and Sanskrit. Â  However, these carved stone inscriptions are fairly fragmentary, and dont provide a very complete picture of even the kings of Shailendra, let alone the daily lives of ordinary people. Thankfully, though, they did leave us the magnificent Borobudur Temple as a lasting monument to their presence in Central Java.