Memory processes and prefrontal network dysfunction in cryptogenic epilepsy

Abstract

Deficits in the processes involved in transient working memory, and to a lesser extent in short-term memory, in patients with localization-related epilepsy of both temporal and extratemporal origin cannot be attributed to hippocampal atrophy or function only, but are also related to reduced functional connectivity in the prefrontal brain. Because patients with symptomatic lesions or mesiotemporal sclerosis were excluded from this study, the results cannot be explained by structural lesions. Therefore, the current findings highlight the influence of epilepsy on the prefrontal network integrity as a possible underlying problem of memory impairment.