Interictal memory and language impairment in temporal lobe epilepsy

Memory and language were evaluated in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and generalized epilepsy. Subjects were matched for age, duration of illness, and seizure frequency, and grouped according to the electroencephalographic results and seizure type into right temporal, left temporal, and generalized. In formal tests of intelligence, auditory and visual memory, and language, a significant difference was noted only on a confrontation naming test. The mean score on this test was considerably lower in the left temporal group; right temporal and generalized groups scored in the normal range. This correlated with impairment on many verbal subtests of intelligence and memory. These results suggest that the interictal memory impairment of temporal lobe epilepsy may be an anomia and that the anomia may contribute to impairment of verbal learning and memory; both circumlocution and circumstantiality may compensate for anomia.