Auras localized to the temporal lobe disrupt verbal memory and learning- causal evidence from direct electrical stimulation of the hippocampus

Publication date: Available online 3 August 2018Source: Epilepsy & Behavior Case ReportsAuthor(s): Diana Pizarro, Emilia Toth, Auriana Irannejad, Kristen O. Riley, Zeenat Jaisani, Wolfgang Muhlhofer, Roy Martin, Sandipan PatiAbstractAuras (Focal aware seizures-FAS) are subjective ictal events with retained consciousness. Epileptiform activities can disrupt cognitive tasks, but studies are limited to seizures with impaired awareness. As a proof of concept, we examined the cognitive effects of direct electrical stimulation to the left hippocampus which induced a habitual FAS in a patient with left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. During the induced habitual FAS, verbal memory performance declined significantly as compared to prestimulation testing. Tasks measuring auditory working memory and psychomotor processing speed were not affected by the stimulation. The study confirms that FAS can impair episodic verbal memory and learning.
Source: Epilepsy and Behavior Case Reports - Category: Neurology Source Type: research