An analysis of neuropsychological change scores following selective temporal resection of the non-dominant temporal lobe

Reliable change in neuropsychological test scores was examined in patients undergoing right-sided, selective temporal resections for the relief of intractable epilepsy. Measures were taken prior to surgery, 1-month post-operatively and 1-year post-operatively. Non-verbal memory performance was more robustly measured than in previous studies. Results failed to replicate previous studies which report verbal memory deficits even following right-sided surgery. No strong evidence of a material-specific, non-verbal memory deficit was found on commonly used tests of non-verbal memory. The majority of patients failed to show reliable decline in performance following surgery indicating that fears of post-operative memory decline may be unfounded.