The bilateral Left Cerebrum.Frontal Lobe.Inferior Frontal Gyrus.Gray Matter.Brodmann area 44 corresponds to a cytoarchitectonic region of the inferior frontal gyrus, classically known as part of Broca’s area in the dominant (typically left) hemisphere and implicated in language production, phonological processing, and aspects of syntactic and working memory functions. Brodmann area 44 is located anterior to the precentral gyrus and posterior to Brodmann area 45 within the opercular portion of the inferior frontal gyrus, with its neuronal architecture characterized by a granular cortex and prominent pyramidal cells suited for corticocortical and corticobulbar projections. Functionally, this region participates in the planning and sequencing of articulatory movements, integration of auditory–phonological information, and higher-order motor control, and shows strong connectivity with temporal, parietal, and motor regions in networks supporting speech and action-related processing. Brodmann area 44
The inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), particularly Brodmann area 44 (BA44; classically overlapping with Broca’s area), has been implicated in multiple genetic and GWAS findings through its roles in language, cognitive control, and social communication. Imaging–genetics and large-scale brain-GWAS studies (e.g., ENIGMA, UK Biobank) have linked common variants near genes such as FOXP2, CNTNAP2, DCDC2, KIAA0319, and others to structural and functional measures of BA44, including gray-matter volume, cortical thickness, and activation during language tasks. FOXP2, the canonical speech and language gene, shows associations with IFG activation during phonological and syntactic processing, and CNTNAP2 variants have been tied to altered IFG connectivity, language abilities, and autism spectrum phenotypes. Polygenic influences on educational attainment, general cognitive ability, and reading skills correlate with BA44 morphology and activation patterns, and GWAS of dyslexia, specific language impairment, and stuttering repeatedly highlight genes involved in cortical development and axon guidance that show downstream effects in the left IFG language network. In psychiatric and neurodevelopmental GWAS, risk alleles for schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, and ADHD have been associated with disrupted IFG structure and function, particularly in left-lateralized BA44 regions implicated in speech production, inhibitory control, and social cognition, although these links typically reflect distributed polygenic effects rather than region-specific single-gene causation.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 748
Hemisphere: bilateral
Atlas: Talairach labels 1mm
Full Quality Version: Download MP4
Full Quality Version: Download MP4
Wali Sidiqyar*, Gaurav Rudravaram*, Elyssa M. McMaster, Trent M. Schwartz, Adam M. Saunders, Kurt G. Schilling, Bennett A. Landman "Introducing SPINS: A Shared Public Visualization Library of Neuroanatomical Structures." Medical Imaging with Deep Learning- short paper
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