Category-Specific Naming and Recognition in Epilepsy

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We believe that a thorough examination of category-specific recognition and naming abilities in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients who have been well-studied before and after respective surgery can resolve inconsistencies that exist regarding the neural substrates and organization of category-specific information. Systematic exploration of category-specific functions both pre- and postoperatively with specially designed neurocognitive tests, quantitative volumetric MRI, and intraoperative language assessment will allow us to determine the relationship between TL sites, potential mediating variables (e.g., atypical naming sites, epilepsy duration), and the naming/recognition functions disturbed in patients exhibiting category specific deficits. We have employed Damasio's "mediational/convergence zone" model of semantic memory as a heuristic framework to generate testable hypotheses for exploring these deficits. Based on this model, one would expect category-specific deficits to routinely occur following TL resections, and preliminary data obtained in our lab support this prediction. These deficits are frequently missed by commonly employed naming measures, despite evidence that they compromise neurocognitive and functional status. Elucidating these constructs will lead to more precise models of semantic memory, and may reveal that some patients undergoing TL resection are at risk for experiencing significant category-specific deficits. Such findings could lead to changes in surgical technique and the selection of surgical candidates, and contribute to improvements in neurocognitive outcome. The PI, who serves as a neuropsychologist/Assistant Professor in the UW Department of Neurology, can draw upon the resources and patient population of a well established epilepsy program. This proposal, if funded, would enable him to develop the necessary skills to mesh his neuropsychological training with advances in neuroimaging and related technologies in an effort to more precisely study brain-behavior relationships, while establishing him as an independent clinician scientist.