title: Human temporal lobe potentials in verbal learning and memory processes.
abstract: Animal experiments and lesion studies have shown the importance of temporal lobe structures for language and memory. We recorded intracranial cognitive potentials from the human lateral and medial temporal lobe in 26 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy undergoing presurgical evaluation, using a word- and a picture-recognition paradigm. Neuropsychological testing included word fluency, verbal reasoning, sustained attention and a verbal learning memory test (VLMT), which was an adapted version of the Rey auditory verbal learning test. Word-specific N400-potentials elicited in the middle temporal gyrus of the dominant left hemisphere (LTL-N400) predicted immediate recall performance after learning, whereas N400s, elicited by words but not pictures in the left anterior medial temporal lobe (AMTL-N400), predicted delayed recall. The number of words that were learned but forgotten after a 30-min delay correlated only with N400s elicited by words in the left anterior medial temporal lobe. Thus, intracranial recordings indicated that different electrophysiological responses in different temporal lobe structures were linked to memory scores from specific neuropsychological tests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epileptology, University of Bonn, Germany. elger@jersey.meb.uni-bonn.de
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Elger
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Grunwald
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lehnertz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kutas
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Helmstaedter
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brockhaus
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Van Roost
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Heinze
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D011612:Psychosurgery; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*