Memory Lateralization in Spanish-Speaking Adults with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Presurgical workups for epilepsy usually include neuropsychological evaluations and, at times, a Wada procedure. This study sought to investigate the lateralization trends of visual and verbal memory while using Wada lateralization information of Spanish-speaking presurgical candidates with temporal lobe epilepsy. Based on previous findings, it was predicted that verbal memory performance would be associated with left temporal lobe functioning and that visual memory performance would not lateralize. Archival data collected at a major urban hospital from 2001 to 2019 was analyzed using inferential statistical tests. Contrary to predictions, there were no associations between verbal/visual memory and hemispheric functioning as seen through 1) the presence of left or right temporal lobe epilepsy and 2) hemispheric memory dominance determined by Wada memory scores. The results of this study suggest that memory type might not lateralize as strongly as expected in Spanish-speaking individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy, which could have implications on this population’s presurgical evaluations for epilepsy.