Some of his better known students in Vienna were Josef Breuer, Sigmund Freud, who in 1883 worked at Meynert's psychiatric clinic, and Julius Wagner-Jauregg, who introduced fever treatment for syphilis.

[1] Other famous students of Meynert's were Russian neuropsychiatrist Sergei Korsakoff (1854–1900), German neuropathologist Carl Wernicke (1848–1905) and Swiss neuroanatomist Auguste-Henri Forel (1848–1931).

Meynert's work was largely focused on brain anatomy, pathology and histology, including the mapping of its intricate pathways and topography.

He made many contributions involving the study of the cellular architecture of the brain and is often considered to be the founder of cerebral cortex cytoarchitectonics.

Klinik der Erkrankungen des Vorderhirns, Meynert forewords with the statement:"The reader will find no other definition of 'Psychiatry' in this book but the one given on the title page: Clinical Treatise on Diseases of the Forebrain.