Pars orbitalis is not based on cytoarchitectonic distinctions, and rather is defined according to gross anatomical landmarks.

Although Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas are often the major foci of neuroanatomical studies related to language, research has discovered that these two areas are not as integral to language comprehension as originally thought; other structures like BA47 play a major role.

[1][2] Specifically, BA47 is active in tasks regarding semantics, or identifying the meaning of words and sentences.

[3][4][5] To understand language semantics, consider Dapretto and Bookheimer’s (1999) study where participants needed to identify that there was a difference between the sentences, “The man was attacked by the Doberman,” and “The man was attacked by the Pitbull.” While sentence form was similar, the words Doberman and Pitbull had different meanings, specifically dog breeds.

Having defined what semantics are, it is important to identify the functional limitations of individuals with damage to BA47.

BA47 showed increased activity when the subject was shown the emotions of fear, disgust, and anger.