Brain, Vol. 122, No. 1, 47-59,
January 1999
© 1999 Oxford University Press
Differential spatial memory impairment after right temporal lobectomy demonstrated using temporal titration
1 Department of Psychology, City University, 2 Neuropsychology Unit, Institute of Psychiatry and 3 Academic Neurosurgery, King's Neuroscience Centre, London, UK
Correspondence to:
Dr Julia Nunn, Sheffield University, Department of Clinical Neurology, Floor N, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Glossop Road, Sheffield S10 2JF, UK
In this study a temporal titration method to explore the extent to which spatial memory is differentially impaired following right temporal lobectomy was employed. The spatial and non-spatial memory of 19 left and 19 right temporal lobectomy (TL) patients was compared with that of 16 normal controls. The subjects studied an array of 16 toy objects and were subsequently tested for object recall, object recognition and memory for the location of the objects. By systematically varying the retention intervals for each group, it was possible to match all three groups on object recall at sub-ceiling levels. When memory for the position of the objects was assessed at equivalent delays, the right TL group revealed disrupted spatial memory, compared with both left TL and control groups (P < 0.05). MRI was used to quantify the extent of temporal lobe resection in the two groups and a significant correlation between hippocampal removal and both recall of spatial location and object name recall in the right TL group only was shown. These data support the notion of a selective (but not exclusive) spatial memory impairment associated with right temporal lobe damage that is related to the integrity of the hippocampal functioning.
spatial memory; temporal titration; right temporal lobectomy
ANCOVA = analysis of covariance; NART-R = National Adult Reading Test—revised; TL = temporal lobectomy
1 A second measure, relative spatial recall, had been used by Smith and Milner (1981) and Cave and Squire (1991). However, in both studies this measure had yielded essentially the same results as those provided by the simpler measure of absolute displacement; thus, in the present study we decided to use only the absolute spatial recall measure.
2 The data from the MacAndrew and Jones (1993) study have been reported as indicating a disproportionate spatial impairment in Korsakoff amnesiacs. In the paper, the authors claim the opposite, but inspection of the data shows that there is a strong, but insignificant, trend for the patients to show a disproportionate spatial impairment, which suggests that a positive result may have been obtained with a larger patient sample.
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