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EXPLORATION OF HEMISPHERIC SPECIALIZATION ACCORDING TO THE NATURE OF INFORMATION AND THE MODE OF THE ELABORATED PROCESSING IN UNILATERAL TEMPORAL LOBE EPILEPSY
 

COMMUNICATION
TOPIC: BASIC NEUROPSYCHOLOGY

Authors:
Véronique Lespinet*, Bernard N. Kaoua*, Alain Rougier** Et Bernard Claverie*
 

*Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives. **Laboratoire d'Epileptologie Clinique et Expérimentale.

Véronique Lespinet:
Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives
Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2 - 146, rue Léo Saignat
33 076 Bordeaux Cedex - FRANCE
Tel : 33-5-57 57 16 56
E-mail : lespinet@scico.u-bordeaux2.fr
 

Two main dichotomies proposed for lateralized information processing are that the right and left hemispheres of the human brain are specialized for: 1- verbal information and non-verbal information respectively or 2- processing local and global stimulus information respectively. In the framework of temporal lobe epilepsy, results observed in pre-operative neuropsychological assessment often are explored according to the nature of information (verbal versus non-verbal) and rarely on the mode of elaborated processing (global versus local). In the literature, the pre-operative results are often contradictory. This aim of this study is to investigate the lateralization of memory preoperative deficits observed in temporal epilepsy according to a share of the nature of information (verbal vs. non-verbal) and on the other hand the mode of the elaborated processing (local vs. global). We have explored three subject groups : right temporal patients (n=17), left temporal patients (n=21) and controls (n=15). In pre-operative investigation, we have used two memory tests : a verbal test (logical memory) and a non-verbal test (complex figure of Rey). For each test, we have measured the number of global elements (correspondent to the global processing) and details (correspondent to the local processing) recalled by each subject. Results indicate that patients with a temporal left epilepsy present local deficits (for verbal and non-verbal informations), while patients with a right temporal epilepsy present non-verbal deficits (for the local and global processings). These results suggest that the left hemisphere is preferentially local (depending on the processing elaborated) and the right hemisphere is preferentially non-verbal (depending on the nature of information).