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Temporal lobe epilepsy and the selective reminding test: the conventional 30-minute delay suffices
Brian D Bell1, Jason Fine, Christian Dow
1Department of Neurology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53792, USA. bell@neurology.wisc.edu
Psychological Assessment
|March 17, 2005
Summary
Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients showed impaired learning and recall on selective reminding tests (SRTs). However, accelerated forgetting over 24 hours was uncommon in TLE patients, suggesting specific memory deficits rather than global memory loss.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Clinical Neurology
Background:
- Standard memory tests may miss subtle memory deficits in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).
- TLE can affect learning and memory, but the pattern of impairment requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess learning and retention using auditory and visual selective reminding tests (SRTs) in patients with left or right TLE compared to controls.
- To determine if TLE patients exhibit accelerated forgetting over a 24-hour period.
Main Methods:
- Administered auditory and visual selective reminding tests (SRTs) with 30-min and 24-hr delays.
- Compared performance of right TLE (n=20), left TLE (n=22), and control (n=49) groups.
Main Results:
- Left TLE patients performed significantly worse than controls on all SRT trials.
- Right TLE patients showed deficits on visual SRTs and auditory learning.
- No significant differences were found in the rate of information loss between 30-min and 24-hr delays across groups.
Conclusions:
- Left TLE is associated with more widespread memory impairments on SRTs than right TLE.
- Accelerated forgetting over 24 hours is not a common feature of memory dysfunction in TLE.
- Selective reminding tests can reveal specific learning and retention deficits in TLE.