Lateralization of verbal memory and unilateral hippocampal sclerosis: evidence of task-specific effects.

This study retrospectively investigated the effect of left (LHS) versus right (RHS) hippocampal sclerosis on verbal memory, measured by means of the Paired Associate Learning and Logical Memory subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) administered as part of a routine preoperative assessment. Patients were selected for the presence of unilateral hippocampal sclerosis by means of preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and postoperative neuropathology. The LHS patients (n = 20) were significantly worse on paired associate learning than RHS patients (n = 18), the performance of RHS patients being consistent with normative standards. In contrast, no laterality effect was seen on the immediate and delayed recall of passages; the evidence suggests that both groups performed at a mildly impaired level. It was suggested that the laterality of verbal memory is conditional upon specific task demands in patients with damage to mesial temporal structures.

[1]  C B Dodrill,et al.  Verbal memory deficits after left temporal lobectomy for epilepsy. Mechanism and intraoperative prediction. , 1985, Journal of neurosurgery.

[2]  D. Wechsler.  A Standardized Memory Scale for Clinical Use , 1945 .

[3]  C. Bruton.  Pathological Findings Caused by Seizures, with Particular Reference to the Temporal Lobe , 1987 .

[4]  A. Wyler,et al.  Memory Function and Verbal Learning Ability in Patients with Complex Partial Seizures of Temporal Lobe Origin , 1987, Epilepsia.

[5]  R. Rausch,et al.  Performance of Patients with Unilateral Temporal Lobectomy on Selective Reminding Procedures Using Either Related or Unrelated Words , 1990, Cortex.

[6]  A. Puce,et al.  Limbic P3 potentials, seizure localization, and surgical pathology in temporal lobe epilepsy , 1989, Annals of neurology.

[7]  R. Rausch,et al.  Supraspan learning in patients with unilateral anterior temporal lobe resections , 1990, Neuropsychologia.

[8]  R. Dennerll.  Cognitive Deficits and Lateral Brain Dysfunction in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy , 1964, Epilepsia.

[9]  K. Meador,et al.  Hippocampal contribution to verbal recent memory following dominant-hemisphere temporal lobectomy. , 1991, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[10]  C. Polkey,et al.  The new Maudsley series of temporal lobectomy. I: Short-term cognitive effects. , 1985, The British journal of clinical psychology.

[11]  C. Polkey,et al.  Relationships between neuropathology and cognitive functioning in temporal lobectomy patients. , 1987, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[12]  M. Quattropani,et al.  Concreteness/Abstractness of Stimulus-Words and Semantic Clustering in Right Brain-Damaged Patients , 1988, Cortex.

[13]  Aubrey J. Yates,et al.  INTELLECTUAL CHANGES FOLLOWING TEMPORAL LOBECTOMY FOR PSYCHOMOTOR EPILEPSY , 1955, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[14]  G. Jackson,et al.  Hippocampal sclerosis can be reliably detected by magnetic resonance imaging , 1990, Neurology.

[15]  Kimford J. Meador,et al.  Electrical stimulation of the human hippocampus produces verbal intrusions during memory testing , 1988, Neuropsychologia.

[16]  G. Desrosiers,et al.  Paired associate learning: normative data for differences between high and low associate word pairs. , 1986, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[17]  D. Ivison.  Anna Thompson and the American liner New York: some normative data. , 1986, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[18]  H Glowinski,et al.  COGNITIVE DEFICITS IN TEMPORAL LOBE EPILEPSY: An Investigation of Memory Functioning , 1973, The Journal of nervous and mental disease.

[19]  B. Milner,et al.  Right hippocampal impairment in the recall of spatial location: Encoding deficit or rapid forgetting? , 1989, Neuropsychologia.

[20]  R. Rausch.  Lateralization of temporal lobe dysfunction and verbal encoding , 1981, Brain and Language.

[21]  D. Spencer,et al.  Verbal memory impairment correlates with hippocampal pyramidal cell density , 1990, Neurology.

[22]  D. Benson,et al.  Interictal memory and language impairment in temporal lobe epilepsy , 1980, Neurology.

[23]  L F Quesney,et al.  Localization of epileptic foci. , 1985, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology. Supplement.

[24]  A. Baddeley.  Hierarchies and Human Memory , 1989 .

[25]  Laura H. Goldstein,et al.  Verbal and Abstract Designs Paired Associate Learning After Unilateral Temporal Lobectomy , 1988, Cortex.

[26]  B. Milner,et al.  The relationship of working memory to the immediate recall of stories following unilateral temporal or frontal lobectomy , 1990, Neuropsychologia.

[27]  J. Gates,et al.  Mesial Temporal Sclerosis: Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Management , 1990, Epilepsia.

[28]  A. Kaufman,et al.  Assessing Adolescent and Adult Intelligence , 1990 .

[29]  Gregory P. Lee,et al.  Material-specific learning in patients with partial complex seizures of temporal lobe origin: Convergent validation of memory constructs , 1988 .

[30]  Philip M. Corsi.  Human memory and the medial temporal region of the brain. , 1972 .

[31]  Frederick Andermann,et al.  Hippocampal sclerosis in temporal lobe epilepsy demonstrated by magnetic resonance imaging , 1991, Annals of neurology.

[32]  G. Larrabee,et al.  Development and clinical validation of an expanded paired associate test with delayed recall , 1989 .

[33]  Brenda Milner,et al.  Right temporal-lobe contribution to image-mediated verbal learning , 1978, Neuropsychologia.

[34]  D. Mungas,et al.  Verbal Learning Differences in Epileptic Patients with Left and Right Temporal Lobe Foci , 1985, Epilepsia.

[35]  Richard H. Mattson,et al.  Memory Function in Focal Epilepsy: A Comparison of Non-Surgical, Unilateral Temporal Lobe and Frontal Lobe Samples , 1980, Cortex.