REORGANIZATION OF MEMORY FUNCTIONS AFTER HUMAN TEMPORAL-LOBE DAMAGE

HEMISPHERIC (re-)organization of episodic memory functions after tempo ral lobe damage (TLD) was investigated by the intracarotid amobarbital procedure in patients suffering temporal lobe epilepsy. Memory of the speech-dominant left hemisphere was intact after right-sided TLD inde pendent of the age at manifestation. In contrast, the right hemisphere mediated memory well only after early left-sided TLD. These findings suggest a predisposition of the speech-dominant left hemisphere for th e encoding of episodic memory, and indicate that for left-sided TLD th e right hemisphere may compensate memory encoding sufficiently only if the damage occurred within a critical period in childhood.