Brodmann area 44



Brodmann area 44, or BA44, is part of the frontal cortex in the human brain. Situated just anterior to premotor cortex (BA6) and on the lateral surface, inferior to BA9. Together with BA 45 it comprises Broca's area a region which is involved in speech production, perception, and according to some recent findings, music perception.

This area is also known as opercular area 44, and it refers to a subdivision of the cytoarchitecturally defined frontal region of cerebral cortex. In the human it corresponds approximately to the opercular part of inferior frontal gyrus (H). Thus, it is bounded caudally by the inferior precentral sulcus (H) and rostrally by the anterior ascending limb of lateral sulcus (H). It surrounds the diagonal sulcus (H). In the depth of the lateral sulcus it borders on the insula. Cytoarchitectonically it is bounded caudally and dorsally by the agranular frontal area 6, dorsally by the granular frontal area 9 and rostrally by the triangular area 45 (Brodmann-1909).