Learning and retention of melodic and verbal information after unilateral temporal lobectomy

The role of the temporal lobes in auditory memory was tested in two analogous tasks assessing learning and 24-hr delayed recognition of unfamiliar melodies and nonsense words. The performance of patients with either anterior right (RT) or left (LT) temporal lobectomy was impaired in learning and delayed recognition of both melodies and words, as compared to normal control subjects, although some preserved learning over successive trials was observed. These results suggest a bilateral temporal-lobe contribution to the learning of these auditory patterns. However, melodies and nonsense words were not recognized in the same way by the two patient groups after 24 hr: subjects in the LT group tended to improve on melodies but drop on words, whereas subjects with RT lesions displayed the reverse pattern, suggesting a differential role for each temporal lobe in long-term memory, according to the nature of the cues inherent to a given type of stimulus.