‘Regarding the scientific viewpoint in psychiatry’, lecture by Carl Wernicke (1880)

Bibliographic Data

ID21595619
AuthorsStephan Heckers (0000-0003-3601-9910, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, USA, corresponding author), Kenneth S Kendler (0000-0001-8689-6570, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA), Astrid Klee (University of Toronto)
Year2022
Volume33
Issue2
Pages236-255
Publication date2022-06-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory of Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0957-154X • E-ISSN: 1740-2360
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0957154x221075240
PMID35588218
OpenAlexW4280557497
LanguageEN
References cited39

In 1880 Carl Wernicke gave this plenary lecture at an annual meeting of German physicians and natural scientists. He used principles from his 1874 aphasia monograph to build a neural model of mental illness. He proposed that the brain keeps a record of experiences in distinct areas of the sensory and motor cortices in the form of memory images, which allows for recognition of objects and the planning of motor acts. He conjectured that imperfections, partial defects and complete loss of such memory images lead, respectively, to mild, moderate and severe forms of psychopathology in sensory and motor realms. The lecture is an early presentation of Wernicke’s system of psychiatry. Several of his concepts have remained relevant in contemporary neuroscience

Cognitive science · Engram · German · Linguistics · Psychiatry · Psychoanalysis · Psychopathology · Medicine · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Neurology and Historical Studies · Neuroscience · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments

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