Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Unilateral medial temporal lobe memory impairment: type deficit, function deficit, or both?

I G Dobbins1, N E Kroll, E Tulving

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis 95616-8686, USA.

Neuropsychologia
|April 16, 1998
PubMed
Summary

Unilateral hippocampal damage causes severe verbal memory deficits in both left and right patients, challenging the material-specific hypothesis. This suggests memory lateralization may be more complex than previously thought.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Neural mechanisms of handedness for precision drawing: hand-dependent engagement of cortical networks for bimanual control and tool use.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025
Same author

Personalized transcranial alternating current stimulation improves sleep quality: Initial findings.

Frontiers in human neuroscience·2023
Same author

Roles of ventral versus dorsal pathways in language production: An awake language mapping study.

Brain and language·2019
Same author

Differential Sources for 2 Neural Signatures of Target Detection: An Electrocorticography Study.

Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)·2017
Same author

Specifying the role of the left prefrontal cortex in word selection.

Brain and language·2015
Same author

Double dissociation of the roles of the left and right prefrontal cortices in anticipatory regulation of action.

Neuropsychologia·2014

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neurology

Background:

  • The 'material-specific' hypothesis posits distinct memory lateralization for verbal and visuospatial information following unilateral hippocampal damage.
  • This hypothesis assumes independent memory systems and material-specific lateralization (left for verbal, right for visuospatial).

Observation:

  • Unilateral hippocampal lesion and commissurotomy patients were compared to controls on a verbal free-recall task.
  • The study specifically tested the verbal memory component of the material-specific hypothesis.

Findings:

  • All patient groups, including those with left and right unilateral lesions and commissurotomy, showed compromised secondary memory at immediate recall.
  • Both unilateral patient groups exhibited comparable and severe verbal episodic memory deficits, contradicting the material-specific prediction.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Commissurotomy patients also displayed severe impairment in final testing across all lists.

    • Implications:

    • The findings challenge the material-specific hypothesis, suggesting verbal episodic memory deficits are not strictly lateralized to the left hippocampus.
    • Task demands and material interact, potentially explaining why some verbal tasks show greater impairment with left-sided damage.
    • This research highlights the complexity of memory lateralization and the interconnectedness of hippocampal systems.