Should broca’s area include brodmann area 47?

Background: Understanding brain organization of speech production has been a principal goal of neuroscience. Historically, brain speech production has been associated with so-called Broca’s area (Brodmann area –BA- 44 and 45), however, modern neuroimaging developments suggest speech production is associated with networks rather than with areas. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the connectivity of BA47 (pars orbitalis) in relation to language. Method: A meta-analysis was conducted to assess the language network in which BA47 is involved. The Brainmap database was used. Twenty papers corresponding to 29 experimental conditions with a total of 373 subjects were included. Results: Our results suggest that BA47 participates in a “frontal language production system” (or extended Broca’s system). The BA47 connectivity found is also concordant with a minor role in language semantics. Conclusions: BA47 plays a central role in the language production system.