Le afasie di Broca e di Wernicke alla luce delle moderne neuroscienze cognitive
Abstract
Riassunto: Al centro di questo lavoro è l’analisi di due disturbi acquisiti del linguaggio: l’afasia di Broca e l’afasia di Wernicke. Tradizionalmente, tali disturbi sono stati interpretati come deficit che colpiscono le funzioni legate, rispettivamente, alla produzione articolatoria e alla comprensione del parlato in seguito a lesioni in due specifiche regioni cerebrali: nel caso dell’afasia di Broca, la terza circonvoluzione frontale sinistra; nel caso dell’afasia di Wernicke, la porzione posteriore del giro temporale superiore sinistro. Per tale ragione, queste due regioni cerebrali, a cui ci si riferisce anche nei termini di area di Broca e area di Wernicke, sono state considerate le sedi neuroanatomiche della produzione e comprensione del linguaggio. Questo articolo mostra che, alla luce delle ricerche condotte negli ultimi decenni: (a) non è più possibile sul piano dei deficit linguistici continuare a considerare l’afasia di Broca e l’afasia di Wernicke come disturbi unitari; (b) non è più possibile continuare a sostenere l’esclusiva localizzazione delle funzioni di produzione e comprensione del linguaggio nelle due regioni cerebrali ad esse classicamente associate.
Parole chiave: Afasia di Broca; Afasia di Wernicke; Area di Broca; Area di Wernicke; Disturbi del linguaggio; Localizzazione cerebrale; Neuroscienze
Broca’s and Wernicke’s Aphasias in the Light of Contemporary Neuroscience
Abstract: This paper analyzes two acquired language disorders: Broca’s aphasia and Wernicke’s aphasia. It has been commonly suggested that these disorders respectively affect functions related to speech production and language comprehension and they have been understood to result from two specific types of brain lesions: Broca’s aphasia from lesions in the third left frontal convolution; Wernicke’s aphasia from lesions in the posterior section of the left superior temporal gyrus. For this reason, these cerebral regions, also known as Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area, have long been viewed as the neuroanatomical correlates of language production and comprehension. This paper shows that in light of current research: (a) with regard to language disorders, it is no longer possible to conceive of Broca’s and Wernicke's aphasias as unitary disorders; (b) with regard to the cerebral localization of linguistic functions, it no longer possible to suggest that Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas are the only regions involved in speech production and comprehension.
Keywords: Broca’s Aphasia; Wernicke’s Aphasia; Broca’s Area; Wernicke’s Area; Language Impairments; Cerebral Localization; Neuroscience
Parole chiave
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PDFRiferimenti bibliografici
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.4453/rifp.2019.0025
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