Wernicke's Aphasia

[Tommy0145]

The guy remembers the one thing important in his life: cigarettes

and yes i feel very sorry for these people with those afasies, i'm doing a subject for school around the project now so don't think i'm mocking him. I respect them that they try ande think that if any person would laugh at these people, they were more mentally ill than these people (not saying that theyre mentally ill but you know what i mean...)

[MaryJoMcCormic]

very interesting

[Thelostcup]

Interesting how the guy can still say cigarette. 

[RapidEyesCream]

Do they know that they are not pronouncing it right? This is very interesting.

[ahleucha]

@RapidEyesCream - No, they don't know. They think that what they're saying is correct. This is largely due to the fact that Wernicke's Aphasia is a problem with the comprehension of language, examplified best in the first case when the woman couldn't understand the instructions given to her.

[IceMetalPunk]

@ahleucha From what I've read, they don't think they're saying it right. Patients who have recovered from this say they don't understand what they're saying, and they don't understand what anyone else says, but they can't stop themselves from speaking. It's like their brain talks for them without them understanding what they're saying.

[thepts]

@IceMetalPunk I saw this in Wikipedia too, but it was a [citation needed]. This depends a lot on the condition. Some W.Aphasics aren't even aware of their problems. Some will vaguely understand others, some won't understand anything. The person listing up objects in the clip sounds calm and self-confident as he's listing up the wrong names for objects (he's not struggling or hestitating). Some will repeat and repeat the same syllable over and over again as they speak. Varies a lot.

[lowdanse]

Very interesting. thank you.

[autocon2002]

for the second patient, I notice some interesting conceptual distortions--

He's clearly trying to say "cigarette box" when looking at the matches. That shows a strong conceptual connection in his brain between matches and cigarettes. He called the pen a "lined", most likely because it's associated with lines. I think he's trying to say "writing" in reference to the pencil, and "mully" is probably supposed to be "money". Lastly, "rockstreen" has the same syllable count as "toothbrush".

[skaterboi76]

kinda reminds me of one of episodes of Friends, when Phoebe tries to teach Joey how to speak French

[1RadicalOne]

It is a testament to Monty Python that I came to this from one of their sketches: "Thripshaw's Disease".

A classic and rather accurate portrayal of damage to Wernicke's area.

[misskellycupcake]

very interesting, thank you for posting :)

[lilbeebee]

how come he knows cigarette in both tests. 

[formerutuber]

@lilbeebee he's probably still a smoker:)

[themonger42]

this is perfect for my lecture on language in the brain

thank you for putting it up

[EdwR1]

What the fuck... ? hahaha

[OrbinOz]

we finally know what James Joyce had, a stroke... of genius!

[redyellowgreen555]

Can someone clarify: If he has lost language comprehension, how is he able to understand the instructions to repeat words?

[nickoDavinci]

@redyellowgreen555 The severity of aphasia degrees depending on the severity of seizure, so some people will completely be unable to comprehend any speech, or some people might be able to understand some parts when talked to, but when they reply they'll, you know.

[redyellowgreen555]

Fascinating...thank you!

[singalinger]

So unfortunate. So there's no way to fix it, I guess?

It's terrible that these patients have to experience this.

[scorpioo]

obviously the guy is a smoker lol. he gets everything wrong except cigarette.. and twice too!

[cintdawg]

nope, they're unaware that what they're saying makes no sense. where as people suffering from broca's aphasia are aware.

[SingHouse]

so are these patients aware they're talking bullshit (sorry I can't put it better) but you get my point. Do they not realise it or they just can't help it at all?

[minik678]

Thanks for uploading! I'm studying language comprehension and production right now, so this video really helps for my exam. It's really interesting to hear how these people are affected by their condition. (Interesting, but unfortunate).

[robbertvanelferen]

Hey minik678 i have the same thing as here on the video explained but i haven't got any problems regarding to naming items or words.

So i think that it's all a bit different from each person/patient!

Greetz!

[CaptainShifty54]

Mother Nature is indeed a cruel ice cream van unknown seven television.

[anglaismoyen]

I love that is the screw in sometimes not only for thee but quietly.

[IExposeMormonism]

I took a class "Aphasia Apraxia Agnosia ". A friend at Standford got me an original copy of Wernicke's Aphasia. This was c. 1978. I gave it to John Lamandela to read. Then it went back to Standford.

[oxfordpictionary]

this is so terrifying it makes me want to cry.

[Asidic]

Once I really far even decided to go want to look more like, but then I use to decided even go

[KomonHouseholdObjex]

Then your a douche

[oxfordpictionary]

i am in possession of a douche? hm, nope. you know who's a douche? your mom.

[bbux78]

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

[garfunkel5000]

lol nice. this was creepy.

[dex1lsp]

It's interesting how they do pretty well with "cigarette".

[MrYoshiDan]

I guess we know what the cause of the stroke was...

[LotuSymmetry]

I don't know wether to laugh at your comment or not...I guess I will...no I can't. (But secretly I will) (not)

[LotuSymmetry]

I think that was the same guy. It is strange, though, that cigarette is the only word he seems to be able to symbolize properly.

[lilacgold2]

The third one is conduction aphasia bordering on deep dysphasia, not Wernicke's (the same case was used in my psychology degree course, and I expect that the professor of language neuropsychology knows what he's talking about). The second one doesn't seem to be Wernicke's either, since he was able to understand when asked to name the objects - again it may be conduction aphasia or deep dysphasia. The first one is a Wernicke's patient though.

[haucks]

good call.

[majik1213]

in considering complete Wernicke's aphasia, partial Wernicke's aphasia, and conductive aphasia, is there a way to discern between the latter two (partial and conduction)?

[corinneriane]

lilacgold2:

Conduction aphasics by definition have better self-monitoring skills than Wernicke's aphasics, because only the arcuate fasciculus has been hit and areas 4, 41, 44, and 22 are presumably intact (although -- only in textbook cases!). A conduction aphasic would start and stop a lot and reapproach the word when he heard himself saying it wrong. All of this leads me to believe that the third case is not of a conduction aphasic!

[corinneriane]

Also, the second case *could* be Wernicke's aphasia. Wernicke's aphasics do not have 0% auditory comprehension.  It's not surprising that a Wernicke's aphasic would understand a simple command like "Tell me what these objects are."

[ameliaJUNExx]

It's so sad.

[feedthewomb]

where would someone with this disorder be able to work?

[wh0ei]

These people are able to perfectly understand everything they say, write or do.. However they have a disorder in brodmann area 4 (i think it was), which means they aren't capable of saying what they want to say. I don't think the inablity to speek (properly) is necesary to find a job, when communication is still posible by means of writing for instance. However it remains very sad of course, and frustrating I figure aswell, to not express yourself as you want to.

[METR0D0ME]

wh0ei,

Wernicke's aphasia is not a motor problem, it is an impairment of expression and/or comprehension of language caused by damage to the Wernicke's area located in the posterior section of the superior temporal gyrus in the dominant hemisphere (Brodmann area 22), not Brodmann area 4 (posterior portion of the frontal lobe).

Aphasic people exhibit errors in one or more language modalities e.g. visual, auditory, input and/or output. Communication is not always possible.

[curseofpoison]

i guess that those words, like cigarette and knife with nike, are like so common to him that his brain doesn't necessarily need to think about it. though im not really sure ._.

[licorice555]

I was wondering that too. Is it possible he can say cigarette because he can make a personal connection with the item?

[AkaysiaFae]

Why do you think he can repeat cigarette? Also, things like fork he uses the same word for, although it is the wrong word.

[rb6elite]

probably for two reasons:

he probably smoked a lot and his addiction somehow maintained his recognition

or the word structure is more complex and unique than most words, so its less likely to be mistaken with another. (like knife and nike)

[JohnRiemannSoong]

any possibility due to childhood conditioning? Fawk/nike almost sounds like toddler mispronunciations, and maybe there are prelinguistic associations (stored somewhere else)

[migoune]

bastard

[Onwisconsin18]

There are cases of both receptive aphasia (comprehension loss) and conductive aphasia (cannot put together words/sounds in the way intended). So this little argument is over nothing; both cases exist.

[AvroLancaster]

Basically they can neither comprehend what they are hearing or saying, reading, etc. Damage to the region is usually partial, and so some people will retain some comprehension. Total destruction, which I'm not sure if there are any recorded cases of this, would mean they place no meaning on words.

So to answer if they understand the questions or not, judging from the responses, probably not.

[JBurneo]

well they have to understand the questions cos otherwise they wouldnt be trying to answer them. they just cant answer them because their use of language is just minimal because of the aphasia

[forecrow]

Batting 1000 on the cigarettes

[peetiewonder]

lmao

[DaUniKJoker]

how can they understand the question (which means they understood each word pronounced from the sentence) but when it comes to simply repeating words, they are unable to do it? Does it mean that their understanding is fine but when they expressed their thoughts there is a problem?

[Seriyu32]

So far as I know, they hear and understand words fine, but their "mental dictionary" so to speak, is gone, so they can't use any words correctly.

[Asztalot]

"Patients who recover from Wernicke's aphasia report that, while aphasic, they found the speech of others to be unintelligible and, despite being cognizant of that fact that they were speaking, they could neither stop themselves nor understand their own words."

[elangworthy]

Wernicke's aphasia is a lack of comprehension. The area of their brain that deals with speech production is fine - thus, they ARE responding to the examiner, and are having no trouble producing the speech - but they don't really understand them, and they don't recognize that they themselves are not making any sense.

[eieui]

But if they can't understand what they hear, how did this man answer to the questions? He would not be able to try to repeat words or name objects...

[elangworthy]

It's not a total lack of comprehension. The area is likely damaged, not removed.

[Senuessa]

The patients have been in several trial before, I bet they recognize what they have to do.