Warrington's recognition memory for faces: interpretive strategy and diagnostic utility in temporal lobe epilepsy

Performance on Warrington's Recognition Memory Test for Faces (RMF) is thought to rely largely on the integrity of the right temporal lobe. Epilepsy research, however, has been mixed with respect to the diagnostic utility of the RMF. Based on the psychometric properties of the RMF, we investigated the moderating role of intelligence on test classification accuracy in 53 presurgical patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Classification accuracy rates were poor for the entire sample, but when the sample was divided based on IQ, classification statistics showed a strong degree of diagnostic utility for the RMF among patients with lower IQ levels versus those with higher IQ levels. These findings support the diagnostic utility of the RMF in epilepsy and underscore the moderating role of intelligence on RMF performance.