The interrelationship between language function and verbal learning/memory performance in patients with complex partial seizures

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to inquire into the relationship between demographic, seizure related, and language factors with the adequacy of verbal learning and memory function in 25 patients with complex partial seizures of dominant temporal lobe origin. Language function in general, and measures of verbal comprehension (aural and reading) and retrieval ability (naming and associative fluency) in particular, emerged as the most robust predictors of verbal learning and memory performance in this sample. Our findings both supported and extended the hypothesis of Mayeux et al. (1980) of a relationship between adequacy of language function and verbal learning and memory performance in patients with complex partial seizures. The implications of these findings for studies investigating the relationship between complex partial seizures/temporal lobe pathology and memory function are discussed.