Abstract/Details

Real-world spatial memory following temporal-lobe surgery in humans.

Maguire, E.A.   University College Dublin (Ireland) ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1994. U069702.

Abstract (summary)

By adopting a constructivist theoretical framework from the cognitive mapping studies of environmental psychology, this study set out to explore, for the first time, the formation of spatial memories of a large-scale, real-world environment in twenty subjects who had undergone unilateral temporal-lobe surgery (11 left, 9 right), and to compare performance to that of 10 matched normal control subjects. Subjects were assessed on a range of learning and memory tasks after viewing videotape presentations of routes through a novel urban area.

Deficits were apparent after both left and right temporal-lobe surgery. Both patient groups required significantly more exposures to the video before a criterion level of learning for scene recognition was reached. The right temporal-lobe group were alone in being significantly impaired on judgements of the proximity of landmarks, but on tests of distance estimation, route planning, route execution, locational accuracy and sketch map representation of the stimulus area, significant impairments were observed in both the left and right temporal-lobe resection groups relative to the normal control group, although not always for similar reasons. A combination of two variables in particular, proximity and route planning, discriminated between the three subject groups to a degree much greater than expected by chance, revealing the importance of their roles in cognitive map formation.

Findings suggest a role for both right and left human temporal lobes in differing aspects of spatial representations of real-world environments, which has implications for traditional dichotomous classifications of brain functioning.

Indexing (details)


Subject
Experimental psychology
Classification
0623: Experimental psychology
Identifier / keyword
(UMI)AAIU069702; Psychology
Title
Real-world spatial memory following temporal-lobe surgery in humans.
Author
Maguire, E.A.
Number of pages
1
Degree date
1994
School code
5090
Source
DAI-C 70/14, Dissertation Abstracts International
Place of publication
Ann Arbor
Country of publication
United States
University/institution
University College Dublin (Ireland)
University location
Ireland
Degree
Ph.D.
Source type
Dissertation or Thesis
Language
English
Document type
Dissertation/Thesis
Dissertation/thesis number
U069702
ProQuest document ID
301509150
Copyright
Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works.
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/docview/301509150