Autobiographical Memory in Children with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Abstract

Autobiographical memory involves the recall of personal facts (semantic memory) and re-experiencing of specific personal events (episodic memory). Although impairments in autobiographical memory have been found in adults with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and attributed to compromised hippocampal integrity, it is not yet known whether this occurs in children with TLE. In the current study, 21 children with TLE and 24 healthy controls of comparable age, sex, and socioeconomic status were administered the Children's Autobiographical Interview. Compared to controls, children with TLE recalled fewer episodic details, but only when no retrieval prompts were provided. There was no difference between the groups for semantic autobiographic details. Interestingly, the number of episodic details recalled increased significantly from 6 to 16 years of age in healthy control children, but not in children with TLE. Exploratory analyses revealed that, within the group of children with TLE, epilepsy factors, including presence or absence of structural hippocampal abnormalities, did not relate to the richness of episodic recall. Our results provide first evidence of autobiographical episodic memory deficits in children with TLE.

Imagining future events in patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy

“…This finding is consistent with previous research examining detailed descriptions of past events in patients with unilateral TLE (Addis, Moscovitch, et al, 2007;Gascoigne et al, 2013;Herfurth et al, 2010;St-Laurent et al, 2009;Viskontas et al, 2000). Moreover, the lack of group difference in the external details indicates that in patients with TLE, deficits in construction of past and future events are not mitigated by overproduction of non-specific details, a strategy used by older adults (Addis et al, , 2010 and other patient groups (e.g., MCI; Gamboz et al, 2010;semantic dementia, Irish et al, 2012b) to compensate for declines in episodic memory.…”

“…Contrary to our hypothesis that side of lesion -particularly right-lateralized lesions -would differentially impact the ability to generate episodic events that rely heavily on contextual detail, the total AI internal detail scores were not significantly different between-patient groups. This lack of significant difference between the LTLE and the RTLE groups in construction of past and future events supports findings from previous studies that examined the role of the left-and right-sided temporal lobe seizure foci on recall of past events (Addis, Moscovitch, et al, 2007;Addis, Wong, et al, 2007;Gascoigne et al, 2013;Herfurth et al, 2010;Lah et al, 2006;Noulhiane et al, 2007;StLaurent et al, 2009;Viskontas et al, 2000;Voltzenlogel et al, 2006).…”

Rethinking cognition and behavior in the new classification for childhood epilepsy: Examples from frontal lobe and temporal lobe epilepsies

“…Furthermore, it has been established that, in comparison with controls, children with TLE have poorer autobiographical memories. When asked to recall events that they have experienced, they remembered fewer episodic details when no retrieval prompts were provided but did not differ on memory for semantic autobiographic details [33]. This study also found that the number of episodic details recalled increased significantly from 6 to 16 years of age in healthy control children but not in children with TLE.…”

“…One described a teenager with bilateral frontal foci who experienced a transitory "frontal lobe syndrome" during the [21] 21 n/r b n/a Cohen [23] n/a 24 11.21 6-16.3 Jambaque et al [24] n/a 28 n/r 7-14 Gonzalez et al [25] n/a 43 12.06 5-16 Nolan et al [26] 25 12.8 n/r 32 12.5 n/r Smith & Lah [27] n/a 66 13.55 5.17-18.17 Rzezak et al [28] n/a 19 14.46 8-16 Hershey et al [29] n/a 28 11.20 7-16 Gascoigne et al [30] n/a 23 12.5 n/r Oitment et al [31] n/a 41 n/r 6-18 Gonzalez et al [32] n/a 44 12.23 6-16 Gascoigne et al [33] n/a 21 12 [40] n/a 36 n/r 7-16 a n/a: no patients within this group included in study. b n/r: data not reported in paper.…”

“…Performance on memory tests may change over time, particularly in children with right temporal lobe seizures [41]. Deficits in rapid forgetting and in autobiographical memory associated with temporal lobe epilepsy were more apparent with increasing age across childhood [30,33], whereas preadolescent children with FLE were found to have more difficulties than older children on tests of executive function and motor coordination [35]. The developmental stage of the cognitive function in question at the time of seizure onset can also influence the nature of cognitive impairment, with skills in a critical phase of development being more vulnerable to disruption than those in a stable developmental phase [42].…”