AGRAPHIA  [ back to Glossary Index ]
Agraphia is the inability to write. This can result from brain damage causing interference with the cognitive or  motor skills necessary to write. The "language" area of the brain is located on the left side in right handed people and most left handed people. PET scans show that when people write they are consciously or subconsciously saying the words, which lights up Broca's area in the left fronto-temporal area.  Carl Wernicke mapped the brain's "writing center" just above Broca's area, in the midzone of the posterior frontal lobe. Agraphia shows up in misspellings, reversed word order, blanks in a sentence, and the like.