In addition to all this, the upper part of the left temporal lobe contains a patch of cortex known as Wernicke’s area. In humans this area has ballooned to seven times the size of the same area in chimpanzees; it is one of the few brain areas that can be safely declared unique to our species. Its job is nothing less than the comprehension of meaning and the semantic aspects of language—functions that are prime differentiators between human beings and mere apes.
