Chapter 10 The birth of localization theory

Re-examining Paul Broca’s initial presentation of M. Leborgne: Understanding the impetus for brain and language research

“…The breakthrough in our understanding of brain-behaviour relations is commonly dated to Paul Broca's (1824-1880) first case of language impairment with lesion confirmed at autopsy which was presented in the spring of 1861 (Broca, 1861a) and published in August of that year (Broca, 1861b). This defining moment has been considered previously by many (e.g., Dronkers, Plaisant et al, 2007;Finger, 2010;Woodill and Le Normand, 1995;Geschwind and Putnam, 1980) and was the recent topic of an editorial in this journal (Cubelli and De Bastiani, 2011).…”

Brain-language relationships

“…The study of Devido-Santos et al 1 suggested that there was no direct relationship between lesion topography and stroke aphasia type in their sample, in contrast with the large amount of scientific knowledge accumulated since Paul Broca' s descriptions of brain-language relationships in which classic aphasias have been correlated to specific brain regions [3][4][5][6] . It is true that a number of traditional concepts regarding mechanisms of aphasia are inconsistent with now abundant data.…”

Brain Localization and the Integrated Systems Hypothesis: Evidence from Broca’s Region

“…phrenology)-pseudoscience which studies the relationship between a person's character and the structure of the skull, created by Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828), proposed that different regions in the human brain have localized functions and may very well be correlated with different behaviors. The crossing of pyramidal tracts was first observed by Gall, thus explaining the contra-lateral effect of lesion damage to the body [1]. Although he was interested in the study of individuals with speech deficits as a result of brain damage, he believed that data derived from such studies would only provide supporting data for his already established idea on brain localization based on bumps on the skull.…”

“…The hypothesis that different brain areas, such as the cerebrum and the cerebellum, may serve different functions dates back to the 18th century. The person cited to be the first to give a detailed write up about cortical localization of function is Emmanuel Swedenborg [1]. Swedenborg believed that the cerebrum was involved in understanding, thinking, judging and willing and he associated these functions with the cerebral cortex excluding the subcortical white matter.…”

“…The brain consists primarily of the cerebrum, cerebellum and brainstem which are made up of about 100 billion intricately con- and activities such as reasoning, learning, language, memory, muscle activities and so on [1]. The left hemisphere is the dominant center of language in most persons and damage to the language areas result in deficits in language processing.…”