Prediction of short-term verbal memory disturbance after ventrolateral thalamotomy.

Abstract

✓ The acute change in short-term verbal memory following ventrolateral thalamotomy in patients with dyskinesia was measured by the technique of Peterson and Peterson. Performance on this test of short-term verbal memory deteriorated following left but not right ventrolateral thalamotomy. This deterioration could not be accounted for solely by disturbance in speech mechanisms after left thalamotomy (although these were present), but may be related to disturbance in retrieval mechanisms of short-term verbal memory. The relative magnitude of this deterioration in performance after left thalamotomy could be partially predicted at the time of operation by some of the effects of electrical stimulation of the ventrolateral thalamus on the same test. A large decrease in recall errors with stimulation during the presentation of material to be later recalled, and a small increase in recall errors with stimulation at the time of recall, correlated with little disturbance of short-term verbal memory following left thalamotomy.