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Components of verbal learning and hippocampal damage assessed by T2 relaxometry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2000

AMANDA G. WOOD
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne Department of Neuropsychology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Victoria, Australia
MICHAEL M. SALING
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne Department of Neuropsychology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Victoria, Australia
MARIE F. O'SHEA
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne Department of Neuropsychology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Victoria, Australia
SAMUEL F. BERKOVIC
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne Department of Neurology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Victoria, Australia
GRAEME D. JACKSON
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne Department of Neurology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Victoria, Australia

Abstract

We studied a group of 31 temporal lobe epilepsy patients (25 left, 6 right) with unilateral hippocampal sclerosis evident on magnetic resonance imaging. Single slice T2 relaxation times were acquired for the left and right hippocampi. Principal components analysis of preoperative memory data resulted in two factors that reflect a distinction between arbitrary and semantic forms of verbal recall. The former component correlated with left hippocampal T2 relaxation time, while the latter component did not. This study suggests that variation in left hippocampal integrity is more related to the acquisition of arbitrary associates than semantically structured material, and reinforces the possibility that the left temporal lobe is functionally heterogeneous with respect to memory. (JINS, 2000, 6, 529–538.)

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2000 The International Neuropsychological Society

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