SELECTIVE INTELLECTUAL DEFICITS IN CHILDREN WITH TEMPORAL LOBE OR CENTRENCEPHALIC EPILEPSY

Specific patterns of intellectual impairment were observed in children with unilateral temporal lobe or centrencephalic epilepsy. The left temporal patients showed learning and memory deficits on verbal tasks while their performance on nonverbal tasks was unaffected. The converse was true for children with right temporal involvement. In contrast to the two temporal groups, the centrencephalic patients were without significant memory defect; instead, they showed lower scores on a test of sustained attention. The results are similar to those obtained in studies of adults with comparable cerebral dysfunction. The findings suggest that cerebral differentiation of intellectual processes is established in childhood. © 1969.