Verbal memory in children with temporal lobe epilepsy: Exploring task-specificity

Gabriella Roubicek; Linda Gonzalez; Suncica Lah; Angie Jackman; A Simon Harvey; Michael Martin Saling

doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2020.107341

Verbal memory in children with temporal lobe epilepsy: Exploring task-specificity

Epilepsy Behav. 2020 Oct:111:107341. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2020.107341. Epub 2020 Aug 11.

Authors

Gabriella Roubicek¹, Linda Gonzalez², Suncica Lah³, Angie Jackman⁴, A Simon Harvey⁵, Michael Martin Saling⁶

Affiliations

¹ Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: groubicek@student.unimelb.edu.au.
² Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, 50 Flemington Road, Parkville, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: Linda.Gonzalez@rch.org.au.
³ School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, 94 - 100 Mallett Street, Camperdown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Electronic address: suncica.lah@sydney.edu.au.
⁴ Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: arja@unimelb.edu.au.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Royal Children's Hospital, 50 Flemington Road, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: simon.harvey@rch.org.au.
⁶ Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, 245 Burgundy Street, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: mmsaling@unimelb.edu.au.

PMID: 32795885
DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2020.107341

Abstract

Rationale: This study explored the applicability of the adult model of task-specificity of memory to children with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).

Method: Retrospective clinical audit; 38 children and adolescents (6-16 years) with lesional TLE (n = 22 mesial; n = 16 lateral) treated at tertiary pediatric hospitals completed two types of verbal memory paradigms: arbitrary associative (Verbal Paired Associates - Hard Pairs) and semantically related (Verbal Paired Associates - Easy Pairs; Stories).

Results: Children with mesial TLE performed more poorly than their lateral TLE counterparts on both types of memory paradigms: arbitrary associative and semantically related (Stories only). Groups with left and right TLE performed comparably on all verbal memory measures.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the adult model of task-specificity may not be completely applicable to children with TLE. Consideration of the developmental context is critical in research and clinical work with pediatric populations.

Keywords: Children; Task-specificity; Temporal lobe epilepsy; Verbal memory.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Child
Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / diagnosis
Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / psychology*
Female
Humans
Male
Memory / physiology*
Memory Disorders / diagnosis
Memory Disorders / psychology
Neuropsychological Tests*
Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
Retrospective Studies
Verbal Behavior / physiology*