Premium
Verbal learning and forgetting in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy
Author(s) -
Giovagnoli A.R.,
Casazza M.,
Broggi G.,
Avanzin G.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
european journal of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.881
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1468-1331
pISSN - 1351-5101
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-1331.1996.tb00228.x
Subject(s) - temporal lobe , epilepsy , hippocampal sclerosis , forgetting , verbal memory , verbal learning , recall , psychology , hippocampal formation , lesion , hippocampus , cognitive psychology , audiology , neuroscience , medicine , cognition , psychiatry
Studies comparing non‐surgical patients with left or right temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) have shown irregular differences in verbal learning and memory. We assessed the performance of unoperated patients with epileptogenic temporal lobe lesions or cryptogenic TLE using a selective reminding procedure for the learning of a word list, and five delayed trials for the recall of learned words. On the selective reminding procedure, patients with left TLE were found to be more impaired than those with right TLE and controls, in agreement with the role of the left temporal lobe in verbal learning. The patients with right TLE were more impaired than the controls, possibly due to the semantic organization of the word list The rate of forgetting learned words was similar in the patient and control groups, suggesting that patients with left TLE can normally retain and/or retrieve stored items. These data support the hypothesis that distinct functional systems subserve learning and memory. Comparisons of the patient subgroups with epileptogenic lesions (hippocampal sclerosis or low‐grade glioma) and those with cryptogenic TLE did not reveal any significant difference in learning or in memory, suggesting that epileptiform activity could affect verbal performance as a detectable temporal lesion.