ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the studies of memory functioning in epileptic patients who were assessed when free from any epileptic attacks. Patients suffering from epilepsy may show a variable degree of cognitive impairment, ranging from severe mental handicap to the absence of any significant impairment. In mentally handicapped patients, the presence of memory impairment will often be clouded by general intellectual deficits. In patients where the epilepsy is a manifestation of a more focal cerebral disease, memory impairment may be the only evidence of cognitive impairment. Patients with epilepsy originating in the temporal lobes have been found to be particularly impaired on memory tasks, compared to patients with more generalized epileptic disturbance, and to patients whose foci which have been localized to other regions of the brain. The assessment of memory functioning in epileptic patients at the time of an epileptic discharge is limited by the relative unpredictability of events.
