Wernicke aphasia

Last revised by Rohit Sharma on 7 Jul 2022

Wernicke aphasia, also known as receptive aphasia or sensory aphasia, is a type of fluent aphasia usually caused by injury (e.g. stroke) to the dominant posterior temporal lobe (Wernicke's area1,2.

Clinical presentation

Wernicke aphasia has classic effects on speech 1,2:
  • fluency: fluent speech, but often disorganized with paraphasias and neologisms
  • comprehension: impaired
  • repetition: impaired
  • naming: impaired

Differential diagnosis

  • transcortical sensory aphasia: shares clinical features of Wernicke aphasia but has preserved repetition 1,2

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