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The relationship between working memory and long-term memory in temporal lobe epilepsy

Fischer, Mark
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1562673848752664

Abstract Details

2019, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Psychology.
Consistent with the extensive literature implicating medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures in long-term memory (LTM), long-term memory impairment is one of the best-documented performance deficiencies and subjective complaints in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Those with TLE also frequently have impaired working memory (WM). WM was once conceptualized as being semi-independent of LTM and mediated by prefrontal cortex and frontal structures. However, a growing literature suggests the importance of WM to LTM consolidation. There are conflicting theories about the relationship between WM and LTM. These theories posit either a concentric processing model of WM, in which activated LTM informs and facilitates WM functioning, or a parallel processing model, in which WM and LTM work in parallel as coordinated but separate systems. If the concentric processing model is correct, we expect patients with MTL dysfunction to be impaired in both LTM and WM. This study examined the dependence of WM on LTM in patients with TLE. It was hypothesized that, in keeping with a concentric processing model, LTM would predict WM function after controlling for relevant clinical and demographic variables. This relationship was expected to be present in both objective and self-report methodologies. In keeping with the theory that intact LTM is necessary for WM processing, it was also hypothesized that participants with LTM deficits in the clinically impaired range would all display WM impairment. This prospective sample included 41 participants aged 18 to 65, with neurologist-confirmed diagnoses of unilateral or bilateral TLE. Participants were recruited from a registry of patients with medically refractory epilepsy. Demographic and neuropsychological test data were drawn from this registry; participants also completed study questionnaires during clinical evaluations (n = 38) or follow-up visits (n = 3). Within each measurement approach (objective or self-report), LTM and WM were significantly correlated. Better objective-WM was significantly related to better visual objective-LTM. Better self-reported WM predicted better self-reported LTM. None of the cross-methodology correlations reached statistical significance. Post-hoc analyses examined whether there was an emotional contribution to the self-report correlations. More severe anxiety significantly predicted both self-reported WM and LTM, but the relationship between SR-LTM and SR-WM remained significant independent of emotional distress. Only a single participant demonstrated objective WM impairment at the chosen study cutoff of 1.5 SDs below the mean. In contrast, 56% of participants fell into the Impaired LTM group using the same cutoff. This study confirmed the hypothesized relationship between WM and LTM, both within self-report measures and within objective measures; however, no significant relationship was present between the objective and self-report measures. This finding extends previous research suggesting that objective and self-report measures of cognition provide distinct information. An unexpected finding, which stands in contrast to our own previous report as well as others in the literature, was that the vast majority of the patients in the present sample had WM function within the normal range despite impaired LTM. This relative independence of WM and LTM disconfirms the theory that LTM integrity is necessary for effective WM.
Paula Shear, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Quintino Mano, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Brian Moseley (Committee Member)
57 p.
Psychology
Working Memory; Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Fischer, M. (2019). The relationship between working memory and long-term memory in temporal lobe epilepsy [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1562673848752664

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Fischer, Mark. The relationship between working memory and long-term memory in temporal lobe epilepsy. 2019. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1562673848752664.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Fischer, Mark. "The relationship between working memory and long-term memory in temporal lobe epilepsy." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1562673848752664

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1562673848752664
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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.