Influence of temporal lobe lesions on photic-evoked responses in occipital visual areas

In 20 patients with temporal lobe lesions and 10 controls, the averaged photic-evoked responses (APERs) and their dispersion pattern (DP) were investigated in inion-vertex-lead and bilaterally in inion-parietal leads (I-P3 and I-P4). The patients with temporal lobe lesions, regardless of lesion location in temporal areas, displayed either absence of APER (the whole APER or only the initial components) or a latency increase without amplitude changes. The DP was generally abnormal. The role of the temporal lobe in the organization of APER in visual areas is discussed.