Article ID: CBB970914253

Johann Jakob Wepfer (1620–1695): A review of his contributions to neuropsychology on the quadricentennial of his birth (2021)

unapi

The effects of brain damage on behavior have been reported by authors from the Greek, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, and seventeenth-century medical traditions. However, few of the reported cases discussed mind-brain relationships, even fewer reported data that offered a description of cognitive functions, and none described a clear association of a functional mechanism of cognitive impairment with identifiable focal brain damage. An exception is found in the case studies by Johann Jakob Wepfer (1620–1695). After reviewing the pre-seventeenth-century background and Wepfer’s milieu, we analyze his texts on neuroanatomy, apoplexy, and brain vascularization (Observationes anatomicae ex cadaveribus eorum, quos sustulit apoplexia cum exercitatione de ejus loco affecto) and his remarkable collection of 222 neurological cases (Observationes medico-practicae de affectibus capitis internis & externis), posthumously published in 1727. We focus on his reports concerning on the presence of aphasia, memory disorders, and unilateral neglect, correlated with focal brain damage, with particular emphasis on his examination of language impairments.

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Authors & Contributors
Maehle, Andreas-Holger
Mani, Nikolaus
Brenninkmeijer, Jonna
Chiang, Howard Hsueh-Hao
Finger, Stanley
Gijn, Jan van
Journals
Gesnerus
History of Psychiatry
History of the Human Sciences
Journal of the History of the Neurosciences
History of Psychology
Medicina nei Secoli - Arte e Scienza
Publishers
Carocci Editore
Pickering & Chatto
Sauerländer
Bonn University
Concepts
Neuropsychology
Neurological diseases
Psychiatry
Toxicology
Brain
Mind and body
People
Wepfer, Johann Jakob
Descartes, René
Figliucci, Vincenzo
Déjerine, Joseph Jules
Freud, Sigmund
Galvani, Luigi
Time Periods
17th century
19th century
20th century
21st century
18th century
Early modern
Places
British Isles
Korea
China
France
Germany
Switzerland
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