The effect of presentation rate on the comprehension and recall of speech after anterior temporal-lobe resection.
Twenty-two patients who had undergone unilateral anterior resection of either the left (LT) or right (RT) temporal lobe and 13 normal control (NC) subjects were tested on a lexical-decision task and a story-memory task. Stimuli were presented aurally, and, in the latter task, at five different speech rates ranging from 125 words per minute (wpm) to 325 wpm. Memory for stories in the LT group was not abnormally sensitive to the effect of increasing rate, although it was inferior to that of the NC group at all speeds. This argues against the hypothesis that the verbal memory deficit evident after LT resection is partially attributable to an abnormally slow processing of verbal information. But LT subjects were impaired at judging the lexicality of words and nonwords presented aurally, suggesting that the left anterior temporal region plays a special role in the processing of speech sounds.
Johnsrude
I
I
Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Milner
B
B
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D011612:Psychosurgery; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*