Everyday cognition in temporal lobe and frontal lobe epilepsy

Abstract

The purpose of this pilot study was to compare the performance of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) on cognitively-based daily living tasks. The hypothesis was that patients with TLE would demonstrate relatively more impairment on a test of everyday memory, while patients with FLE would demonstrate relatively more impairment on a test of everyday executive function. The five Daily Living subtests of the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB) were administered to twenty-five patients with TLE and nine patients with FLE. The two groups were matched on all demographic variables. The hypothesis was not confirmed: the TLE and FLE patient groups did not demonstrate a double dissociation in memory and executive daily functioning. Rather, both groups were significantly impaired in daily memory functioning, while their executive daily functioning test scores were within normal limits. Relative deficits were also noted in attention in the TLE group and in language in the FLE group, suggesting that despite having focal lesions, functional impairments may be seen in a broad range of daily activities in these patient groups. Generalizability of the findings is limited due to the small number of subjects and because the everyday cognition measures employed may not have been adequately sensitive. Future studies are needed with larger sample sizes to provide a better understanding of how cognitive impairment in epilepsy is associated with deficits in daily functioning.