VOICES IN THE MIND

What role does the brain play in forming and controlling your accent?

1 LISTENING AND UNDERSTANDING

The brain is better at processing accents it’s encountered. The ear conveys sound, but if the brain is unable to make sense of foreign sounds, it replaces them with those it understands.

2 WERNICKE’S AREA

Located behind your ear, Wernicke’s area processes the sound of accents.

3 BROCA’S AREA

This region of the brain is most active just before you speak. Broca’s area turns your brain’s thoughts into sounds.

4 MOTOR CORTEX

After receiving the information from Broca’s area, the motor cortex controls how your mouth moves. The shapes your lips, tongue and facial muscles make impact the sounds that leave your mouth.

5 CEREBELLUM

Details of how the back of the brain contributes to language are largely unknown, but the cerebellum impacts how we use separate syllables in speech.

6 A DIFFERENT ACCENT

When you put on an accent different to your own, an area deep inside the left side of your brain called the left anterior insula is activated.