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.

Luzzatti, C., Whitaker, H. (2021). Johann Jakob Wepfer (1620–1695): A review of his contributions to neuropsychology on the quadricentennial of his birth. JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF THE NEUROSCIENCES, 30(2), 163-184 [10.1080/0964704X.2020.1831338].

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

Luzzatti C.
Primo
;
2021

Abstract

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.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
anatomical-functional correlations of language; Apoplexy; cognitive impairment; focal brain damage; history of aphasiology; history of neuropsychology; history of scientific thought; mind-brain relationships;
English
26-ott-2020
2021
30
2
163
184
none
Luzzatti, C., Whitaker, H. (2021). Johann Jakob Wepfer (1620–1695): A review of his contributions to neuropsychology on the quadricentennial of his birth. JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF THE NEUROSCIENCES, 30(2), 163-184 [10.1080/0964704X.2020.1831338].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/297511
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