DECLARATIVE MEMORY FOLLOWING ANTERIOR TEMPORAL LOBECTOMY IN HUMANS

This study hypothesized that verbal memory decline following anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) is associated with a lack of significant neur opathology in resected left, but not right, hippocampus and is limited to measures of episodic memory only. Tests of immediate(digit span), semantic (visual naming), and episodic memory as measured by the Calif ornia Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) were administered before and 6 month s after resection of the anterior left (n = 36) or right (n = 26) temp oral lobe. There were no effects of hippocampal pathology on measures of immediate or semantic memory for either ATL group or for episodic m emory for the right ATL group. Left ATL patients who demonstrated no/m ild hippocampal sclerosis exhibited significantly greater postoperativ e decline in episodic memory compared with those with moderate/marked hippocampal sclerosis on multiple CVLT indices (recall measures, learn ing characteristics, and contrast measures).