Wernicke's Area: Difference between revisions

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==Clinical significance==
==Clinical significance==
[[File:Wernicke's area animation.gif|thumb|Wernicke's area (shown in red).<ref>[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wernicke%27s_area_animation.gif wiki]</ref><ref>[https://dbcls.rois.ac.jp/index-en.html Polygon data were generated by Database Center for Life Science(DBCLS)]</ref>
Wernicke's area is named after Carl Wernicke, a German neurologist and psychiatrist who, in 1874, hypothesized a link between the left posterior section of the superior temporal gyrus and the reflexive mimicking of words and their syllables that associated the sensory and motor images of spoken words. He did this on the basis of the location of brain injuries that caused aphasia. Receptive aphasia in which such abilities are preserved is also known as Wernicke's aphasia. In this condition there is a major impairment of language comprehension, while speech retains a natural-sounding rhythm and a relatively normal syntax. Language as a result is largely meaningless (a condition sometimes called fluent or jargon aphasia).
Wernicke's area is named after Carl Wernicke, a German neurologist and psychiatrist who, in 1874, hypothesized a link between the left posterior section of the superior temporal gyrus and the reflexive mimicking of words and their syllables that associated the sensory and motor images of spoken words. He did this on the basis of the location of brain injuries that caused aphasia. Receptive aphasia in which such abilities are preserved is also known as Wernicke's aphasia. In this condition there is a major impairment of language comprehension, while speech retains a natural-sounding rhythm and a relatively normal syntax. Language as a result is largely meaningless (a condition sometimes called fluent or jargon aphasia).


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Damage to the posterior temporal lobe of the dominant hemisphere is the cause of Wernicke's aphasia. The etiology of this damage can vary greatly, with the most common cause being a cerebrovascular event such as an ischemic stroke. Ischemic stroke is the result of a thrombus occluding a blood vessel, restricting blood supply to a particular area of the brain. Other causes of focal damage potentially leading to Wernicke's aphasia include head trauma, infections affecting the central nervous system, neurodegenerative disease, and neoplasms. <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernicke%27s_area wiki]</ref>
Damage to the posterior temporal lobe of the dominant hemisphere is the cause of Wernicke's aphasia. The etiology of this damage can vary greatly, with the most common cause being a cerebrovascular event such as an ischemic stroke. Ischemic stroke is the result of a thrombus occluding a blood vessel, restricting blood supply to a particular area of the brain. Other causes of focal damage potentially leading to Wernicke's aphasia include head trauma, infections affecting the central nervous system, neurodegenerative disease, and neoplasms. <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernicke%27s_area wiki]</ref>
==References==
==References==