Discriminating Patients With Frontal-Lobe Epilepsy and Temporal-Lobe Epilepsy: Utility of a Multilevel Design Fluency Test

Patients with frontal-lobe epilepsy (FLE) or temporal-lobe epilepsy (TLE) and matched control participants were given a design fluency test that assessed nonverbal fluency and switching ability. Patients with FLE generated fewer designs in the switching condition relative to the TLE patients and con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuropsychology 2005-11, Vol.19 (6), p.806-813
Main Authors: McDonald, Carrie R, Delis, Dean C, Norman, Marc A, Tecoma, Evelyn S, Iragui, Vicente J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Biological and medical sciences
Case-Control Studies
Cognitive Ability
Epilepsy
Epilepsy, Frontal Lobe - diagnosis
Epilepsy, Frontal Lobe - physiopathology
Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe - diagnosis
Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe - physiopathology
Female
Frontal Lobe
Functional Laterality - physiology
Headache. Facial pains. Syncopes. Epilepsia. Intracranial hypertension. Brain oedema. Cerebral palsy
Human
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes)
Neurology
Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data
Nonverbal Ability
Problem Solving - physiology
Temporal Lobe
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Summary:Patients with frontal-lobe epilepsy (FLE) or temporal-lobe epilepsy (TLE) and matched control participants were given a design fluency test that assessed nonverbal fluency and switching ability. Patients with FLE generated fewer designs in the switching condition relative to the TLE patients and controls, whereas group differences did not emerge in the basic fluency conditions. When the side of the seizure focus and the presence or absence of a structural lesion were considered in patients with FLE, only those with left-lesional FLE generated fewer designs than controls did in the switching condition. Furthermore, patients with left-lesional and nonlesional FLE produced a greater proportion of set-loss errors than did controls. These results indicate that patients with FLE are impaired when they must simultaneously generate new designs and engage in cognitive switching; however, the pattern of impairment may depend on the side of the seizure focus and the presence of a structural lesion.
ISSN:0894-4105
1931-1559
DOI:10.1037/0894-4105.19.6.806