Prior to Freud's introduction of the term, some of the first ideas about agnosia came from Wernicke who created theories about receptive aphasia in 1874.
Wernicke was influenced by Theodor Meynert, his mentor, who postulated that aphasias were due to perisylvian lesions.
Eva-Maria Wernicke (born 30 September 1953 in Beierfeld) is an East German luger who competed during the 1970s and early 1980s.
It was hypothesized that the deaf-equivalent of Broca's aphasia arose from damage somewhere near the cortex controlling the movement of the hands, and the deaf-equivalent of Wernicke's aphasia arose from damage near the visual cortex.