Serial position, rehearsal and recall in temporal lobe epilepsy

Two auditory forms of the serial position curve (SPC) were administered to three groups of 20 subjects: normal and neurotic controls and chronic temporal lobe epileptics. In contrast to expectation, epileptics were especially poor on the recency portion of the curve. Evidence from a further 30 cases of temporal lobe damage suggested that the epileptics had rehearsed earlier items at the expense of later ones.