Wernicke's aphasia

aphasia /apha·sia/ (ah-fa´zhah) defect or loss of the power of expression by speech, writing, or signs, or of comprehending spoken or written language, due to injury or disease of the brain centers. See also agrammatism, dysphasia, and paraphasia. apha´sic

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amnesic aphasia , amnestic aphasia defective recall of specific names of objects or other words, with intact abilities of comprehension and repetition.

anomic aphasia  that in which recall of names is faulty.

auditory aphasia  a form of receptive aphasia in which sounds are heard but convey no meaning to the mind, due to disease of the auditory center of the brain.

Broca's aphasia  motor a.

conduction aphasia  aphasia believed to be due to a lesion of the path between sensory and motor speech centers; spoken language is comprehended normally but words cannot be repeated correctly.

expressive aphasia  motor a.

fluent aphasia  a type of receptive aphasia in which speech is well articulated and grammatically correct but is lacking in content.

global aphasia  total aphasia involving all the functions which go to make up speech or communication.

jargon aphasia  that with utterance of meaningless phrases, either neologisms or incoherently arranged known words.

mixed aphasia  global a.

motor aphasia  Broca's or nonfluent aphasia; that in which the ability to speak and write is impaired, due to a lesion in the insula and surrounding operculum.

nominal aphasia  anomic a.

nonfluent aphasia  motor a.

receptive aphasia  inability to understand written, spoken, or tactile speech symbols, due to disease of the auditory and visual word centers.

sensory aphasia  receptive a.

total aphasia  global a.

visual aphasia  alexia.

Wernicke's aphasia  receptive a.

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Wernicke's aphasia

A condition characterized by either partial or total loss of the ability to understand what is being said or read. The individual maintains the ability to speak, but speech may contain unnecessary or made-up words.

Mentioned in: Aphasia

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Wernicke's aphasia

[ver′nikēz]

Etymology: Karl Wernicke, German neurologist, 1848-1905

a form of aphasia affecting comprehension of written and spoken words, possibly caused by a lesion in Wernicke's center. The patient may articulate normally, but speech is incoherent, with malformed or substitute words and grammatical errors. Compare Broca's aphasia.

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Wernicke's aphasia

Neurology Loss of ability to comprehend language, and production of inappropriate language