Episodic and semantic memory in children with mesial temporal sclerosis

Author(s)

Rzezak, Patricia ^[1] ; Guimaraes, Catarina ^[2] ; Fuentes, Daniel ^[3] ; Guerreiro, Marilisa M. ^[2] ; Ramos Valente, Kette Dualibi ^{[1, 4]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Sch Med, Dept Psychiat, Neuroimaging Lab, Lab Med Res 21, LIM 21, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Estadual Campinas, Dept Neurol, Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Sch Med, Div Psychol & Neuropsychol, Dept Psychiat, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[4] Univ Sao Paulo, Sch Med, Clin Neurophysiol Lab, Dept Psychiat, Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Epilepsy & Behavior; v. 21, n. 3, p. 242-247, JUL 2011.
• Web of Science Citations: 19

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze semantic and episodic memory deficits in children with mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) and their correlation with clinical epilepsy variables. For this purpose, 19 consecutive children and adolescents with MTS (8 to 16 years old) were evaluated and their performance on five episodic memory tests (short- and long-term memory and learning) and four semantic memory tests was compared with that of 28 healthy volunteers. Patients performed worse on tests of immediate and delayed verbal episodic memory, visual episodic memory, verbal and visual learning, mental scanning for semantic clues, object naming, word definition, and repetition of sentences. Clinical variables such as early age at seizure onset, severity of epilepsy, and polytherapy impaired distinct types of memory. These data confirm that children with MTS have episodic memory deficits and add new information on semantic memory. The data also demonstrate that clinical variables contribute differently to episodic and semantic memory performance. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. (AU)