What are the anatomical and behavioral differences between Broca's and Essay

What are the anatomical and behavioral differences between Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia - Essay Example Aphasia is the â€Å"loss of or impairment of the power to use or comprehend words usually resulting from damage to the brain† as defined in the Webster Dictionary (Broca aphasia, University of Idaho). The portions of the brain responsible for language are affected and for the majority of people, this is on the left side or hemisphere of the brain. Anyone can have aphasia and it could occur due to an accident (trauma) causing a head injury, a stroke, a tumor, infection or dementia (Aphasia, NIDCD). When resulting from a head injury or a stroke, the occurrence is of sudden onset. The tumor, dementia or infection produces slower-onset aphasia. The reason for the damage to the brain in a stroke is due to loss of blood supply to the relevant brain area. 80000 people are believed to have aphasia due to strokes in the US (Aphasia, NIDCD). The brain cells die and lose their normal neural activity. Trauma causes direct damage of the cells which subserve the area for language. Whatever the cause, the brain cells lose their nutrition and die subsequently. Statistics show that one million people have aphasia due to various causes in the US (Aphasia, NIDCD). Aphasia is classified into fluent and non-fluent aphasia (Aphasia, NIDCD). The neurologist tests the patient to discover the type of aphasia he has. The communication abilities are investigated by the speech-language pathologist: the ability of the patient to speak and express ideas, whether he is able to converse socially and understand language, his ability to read and write and whether he is able to communicate in any other way. Language recovery is possible if the cause of the stroke is a transient ischaemic attack (Aphasia, NIDCD). However most cases of aphasia do not recover early or completely. The residual aphasia requires speech language therapy which could last for a year or two. Broca’s aphasia is also known as motor aphasia or expressive