Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 7, 2026
Investigating Social Cognition in Infants and Adults Using Dense Array Electroencephalography (dEEG)
Published on: June 27, 2011
Verbal dichotic listening performance and its relationship with EEG features in benign childhood epilepsy with
Sara Bulgheroni1, Silvana Franceschetti, Chiara Vago
1Developmental Neurology Division, Istituto Neurologico C. Besta, via Celoria 11, 20133 Milano, Italy. neuropsicologia@istituto-besta.it
Insights
Benign epilepsy of childhood with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) alters language lateralization in children. Interictal discharges, especially multifocal ones, disrupt the typical left-hemisphere advantage for speech processing.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Epileptology
Background:
- Benign epilepsy of childhood with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) is a common childhood epilepsy syndrome.
- The long-term cognitive effects of BECTS, particularly on higher cognitive functions like language, are not well understood.
- Understanding language organization in BECTS is crucial for assessing developmental impacts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of interictal EEG discharges in BECTS on language lateralization.
- To determine if BECTS affects the typical hemispheric dominance for speech perception.
- To explore the relationship between the location and extent of epileptic activity and language processing.
Main Methods:
- A cohort of 24 children diagnosed with BECTS (ages 7-12) was compared to 16 age- and gender-matched healthy controls.
- Speech lateralization was assessed using the vowel-consonant dichotic listening (DL) test.
- Analysis focused on the right-ear advantage, laterality index, and the influence of spike location (unifocal vs. multifocal).
Main Results:
- Children with BECTS demonstrated an atypical pattern in the DL test, lacking the typical right-ear/left-hemisphere advantage.
- Multifocal interictal discharges significantly impacted laterality, leading to symmetrical performance and loss of the right-ear advantage.
- The specific side of unifocal spikes did not influence DL performance, and spike frequency showed no correlation with laterality.
Conclusions:
- BECTS is associated with atypical language lateralization, characterized by a reduced or absent right-ear advantage.
- Interictal epileptic activity in BECTS may lead to a reorganization of speech perception, potentially involving bilateral processing.
- Widespread or multifocal hyperexcitability appears to more severely affect the neural networks underlying dichotic listening performance in BECTS.
Purpose:
Benign epilepsy of childhood with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) is the most common form of idiopathic partial epilepsy in children from 3 to 12 years old. Little and far from conclusive information is available on its chronic impact on the organization of higher cognitive functions during development. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of interictal EEG discharges in the peri-sylvian regions on language lateralization in BECTS.
Methods:
Twenty-four 7-12-year-old children with BECTS were compared with a control group of 16 healthy children matched for age, gender and schooling. Hemispheric speech lateralization was determined with the vowel-consonant dichotic listening (DL) test.
Results:
DL data showed that BECTS children lacked the typical right ear/left hemisphere functional advantage. The side of the interictal spikes had no specific influence on DL performance, while a multifocal location of the discharges had a particularly significant effect on the laterality index, as shown by the complete loss of the right-ear advantage in favor of a symmetrical performance with the overall level of accuracy remaining constant. No correlation was found between spike frequency and DL data.
Conclusions:
BECTS coincides with an atypical performance in DL test with the loss of the usual right ear/left hemisphere advantage, suggesting that interictal activity may induce a reorganization of speech perception lateralization, with a bilateral representation of the phonological processing of auditory and verbal stimuli. This was particularly evident in the group with multifocal spikes, which may mean that a widespread hyperexcitability can affect the network underlying DL performance more severely.
More Related Videos
09:57Electromagnetic Source Imaging in Presurgical Evaluation of Children with Drug-Resistant Epilepsy
Published on: September 20, 2024
10:23Equipment Setup and Artifact Removal for Simultaneous Electroencephalogram and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Clinical Review in Epilepsy
Published on: June 23, 2023