Spatial and non-spatial auditory short-term memory in patients with temporal-lobe lesion.
Primate auditory systems are divided into at least two different pathways. One refers to objects and the other deals with localization. To investigate auditory spatial and non-spatial short-term memory, we tested patients with unilateral medial temporal lobe lesions including the pole in two tasks involving either sound localization discrimination or auditory object discrimination. The results showed that both left and right temporal lobe lesions impaired spatial short-term memory whereas only lesions on the right affected non-spatial short-term memory. By contrast, the same patients were able to perform the tasks when short interstimulus intervals were used suggesting that short-term memory deficits can not be ascribed to difficulties in perception. These findings document, for the first time, in a neurological population, the functional dissociation between spatial and non-spatial auditory short-term memory that seem to depend on separate neural circuits within the medial temporal lobe.
Lancelot
Céline
C
University of Lille 3, URECA, Domaine universitaire du Pont de Bois, BP 149, 59653 Villeneuve d'ascq, France. celinelancelot2@aol.com
Ahad
Pierre
P
Noulhiane
Marion
M
Hasboun
Dominique
D
Baulac
Michel
M
Samson
Séverine
S
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D013017:Sound Localization / Q000502:physiology*; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*