Are you speaking gibberish? Can those listening to you make sense of what you're saying? Carl Wernicke would say that something is wrong in the Wernicke's area of your brain. What is this area, how did he discover it, and what did he learn from it?
- Who was Carl Wernicke?
- What are some interesting facts about Carl Wernicke?
- What was Carl Wernicke's theory?
- How does the Wernicke's area of the brain function?
Carl Wernicke: Biography
Who was Carl Wernicke? Why was he important to psychology? Carl Wernicke was a German psychiatrist and a neurologist. Wernicke was most interested in speech pathology (problems with speaking) and furthered research on aphasia. But first, let’s lay out some background information about Carl Wernicke.
Aphasia is the inability to comprehend or produce language because of damage to particular brain areas.
A photo of Carl Wernicke, commons.wikimedia.org
Carl Wernicke was born in Poland in 1848. Wernicke's father worked as a secretary for one of the town's officials. He wasn't very affectionate towards Carl and Carl's mother. However, his mother was soft-hearted towards Carl and very interested in his educational pursuits. Carl's mother hoped that he would study theology and become a minister (which was a very common career choice at the time).
Just before Carl went off to study at the University of Breslau, his father passed away. Despite his mother's wishes for him to study theology, Wernicke chose to begin his education in medicine. Before Wernicke took his state examinations, his mother also passed away.
Carl Wernicke's Education and Work
Carl studied medicine during his secondary education at Breslau University. After finishing school, Wernicke found a job as an assistant at the Ophthalmology Department at Breslau University. Wernicke served as an army surgeon during the France-Prussian war of 1870. Once the war was over, Wernicke returned to Breslau University as an assistant again, but this time he got to work in the psychiatry department.
To further his education, Carl Wernicke went to Vienna to study neuroanatomy with Theodor Meynert. Shortly after, in Vienna, Wernicke published his first book (his most important), Der Aphasische Symptomencomplex (The Aphasic Syndrome), in 1874. From 1875 to 1881, Wernicke worked in clinics and practiced neurology at his private practice. Wernicke went on to publish several other works. His publications were mostly focused on aphasiology and psychophysiology.
Carl Wernicke: Interesting Facts
An interesting fact about Carl Wernicke is that he wore many hats in his pursuits of knowledge. This led him to become a neuropathologist, psychiatrist, anatomist, and physician. As his work progressed, Carl focused on the study of aphasiology (the study of aphasia) and was greatly inspired by Paul Broca's research as well. Resulting from his studies, Wernicke proposed a theory of localization of particular brain functions. Carl's work didn't stop there, however.
Carl also developed some new diagnoses, including Wernicke encephalopathy. Wernicke encephalopathy is a neurological dysfunction from a lack of thiamine in the body. When Wernicke's encephalopathy is combined with Korsakoff psychosis (a dementia syndrome), it is called Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome.
Carl's research gave him ample opportunities to publish his works, and he created three volumes combined. Carl attempted to relate neurological diseases to specific areas of the brain in his work titled Textbook of Brain Disorders between 1881 and 1883. Carl also co-founded an academic journal named the Monthly Journal of Psychology and Neurology in 1897. Sadly, Wernicke passed away on June 15th, 1905 from injuries due to a bicycle accident in a forest.
Carl Wernicke had many careers in his life, StudySmarter Original
Carl Wernicke's Theory
Wernick theorized that abnormalities could be concentrated in specific areas of the cerebral cortex, which means they can be used to determine the functions of these regions. This means that Wernicke wanted to be able to pinpoint specific areas of the brain and say what that area could do. Wernicke was one of the first scientists to map brain functions as being dependent on neural pathways (communication in our brain) that connect different areas of the brain to each other, with each area contributing a sensory-motor activity (such as a baby learning to crawl).
Wernicke's localization theory states that certain brain parts control specific abilities and functions.
At the time, most scientists believed that the brain was functioning as a single organ. Wernicke demonstrated that either the right or left hemispheres of the brain dominated in performing functions. There was one such study that propelled Wernicke's work into history.
The left hemisphere is responsible for reading, writing, and logic. The right hemisphere is mostly visual and deals with images more than words.
The Function of the Wernicke's Area
So, what discovery about the brain helped Wernicke create his theory? Around ten years after Broca's area of the brain was discovered and researched, Wernicke noticed another closely related problem in individuals who could speak but could not understand language. How was this possible?
In 1873, Wernicke studied a patient who had recently suffered a stroke. Wernicke noticed that the patient's hearing worked well, and he could also speak. The problem was that when the patient spoke, Wernicke could hardly understand anything being said to him, and the patient could also not understand any written words. Unfortunately, the patient died, but Wernicke studied his brain and found a lesion in the rear area (the rear parietal/temporal region) of his left brain hemisphere.
Because of this research, Wernicke concluded that this particular brain region was in charge of auditory functions such as understanding speech. Wernicke called this syndrome sensory aphasia, but today it is known as Wernicke's aphasia.
Location of the Wernicke area of the brain, common.wikimedi.org
Wernicke's area is an area of the brain located in the left temporal lobe. Wernicke's area is involved in language comprehension and expression.
Wernicke's Aphasia
So, what happens when there is damage to Wernicke's area? Carl documented the symptoms his patients were experiencing and put together a diagnosis called Wernicke's aphasia.
Wernicke's aphasia (also called receptive or sensory aphasia) is a language disorder that impacts language comprehension and the production of meaningful language due to damage in Wernicke's area of the brain.
Individuals diagnosed with Wernicke's aphasia often produce speech that sounds normal and grammatically correct. But if you listen closely to what they say, the message would make hardly any sense at all. Even more, those affected by Wernicke's aphasia sometimes include made-up or irrelevant words in their sentences. What are all the symptoms that Wernicke was able to identify? Symptoms of Wernicke's aphasia include:
- The person does not know there is a problem with their speech
- The person may have trouble repeating phrases or words
- The person speaks in sentences that make no sense
- The person says words that have no meaning
Carl Wernicke - Key takeaways
- Carl Wernicke was a German psychiatrist and neurologist who was most interested in speech pathology (problems with speaking) and furthered research on aphasia.
- Wernicke's localization theory states that certain brain parts control specific abilities and functions.
- Wernicke concluded that a specific brain region was in charge of auditory functions (such as understanding speech), and he called this syndrome sensory aphasia, which today is known as Wernicke's aphasia.
- Wernicke's area is an area of the brain located in the left temporal lobe involved in language comprehension and expression.
- Wernicke's aphasia (also called receptive or sensory aphasia) is a language disorder that impacts language comprehension and the production of meaningful language due to damage in Wernicke's area of the brain.
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