Has anyone done a study on accessing/stimulating the Broca area of the brain in nonverbal patients through medication, treatments or procedures? If so, what were they and what were the results?
While I am not aware of Broca's area stimulation in non-verbal patients per se, of interest is that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been used as an intervention for rehab of motor, cognitive, and language impairment. While tDCS to the primary motor cortex results in improved motor behaviors, there are not many studies that have loked at tDCS in motor output produces.
While Broca’s area relates to speech and language function, it also contributes to motor planning and output in non-speech tasks.
Hupfield et al. (2017) for example found that Broca’s area is involved in the production of non-verbal motor behaviors and may have implications novel combined speech and movement therapy interventions.
CHeck out their paper and rferences:
Hupfeld, K. E., Ketcham, C. J., & Schneider, H. D. (2017). Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to Broca’s area: persisting effects on non-verbal motor behaviors. Neurological Disorders and Therapeutics, 1(1), 1-5.
Thank you! I did some reading about tDCS, but will definitely read the research you recommended.
Hi,
Some articles in this area:
Ferpozzi, V., Fornia, L., Montagna, M., Siodambro, C., Castellano, A., Borroni, P., Riva, M., Rossi, M., Pessina, F., Bello, L., & Cerri, G. (2018). Broca's Area as a Pre-articulatory Phonetic Encoder: Gating the Motor Program. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 12, 64. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00064
Heikkinen, P. H., Pulvermüller, F., Mäkelä, J. P., Ilmoniemi, R. J., Lioumis, P., Kujala, T., Manninen, R. L., Ahvenainen, A., & Klippi, A. (2019). Combining rTMS With Intensive Language-Action Therapy in Chronic Aphasia: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Frontiers in neuroscience, 12, 1036. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2018.01036
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