The Temporal Lobe: the Brain Region Linked to Speech

The brain is divided into two hemispheres, or halves: the right and left. Interestingly enough, the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body, while the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body. And in most individuals, the brain’s left hemisphere is in charge of speech and language, while the right deals with spatial, nonverbal skills.

Each half of the brain can be split into four distinct lobes, each with a distinct set of functions:

• the Frontal Lobe
• the Temporal Lobe
• the Parietal Lobe
• the Occipital Lobe

The Temporal Lobe is found on the side of the head above the ears, located just below and behind the frontal lobes. It controls speech, comprehension, as well as memory. The Temporal Lobe is the second largest lobe of the brain. Damage to this Lobe may lead to:

• Aggression
• Difficulty recognizing faces, aka prosopagnosia
• Decreased or increased interest in sexual activity
• Persistent speech
• Difficulty in speech comprehension, aka receptive aphasia
• Impared long-term and factual memory
• Difficulty in the categorization and identification of objects
• Difficulty learning and retaining new information
• Disturbance with selective attention to outside stimuli

In most individuals, the left Temporal Lobe is the dominant one. The left Temporal Lobe deals with language comprehension, as well as learning and retaining verbal information. The right Temporal Lobe, which is the non-dominant side in most folks, deals with learning and retaining non-verbal information, such as music and visual/spatial material.