Self-report of memory skills after temporal lobectomy: the effect of clinical variables.

Forty-eight patients who had undergone unilateral temporal lobectomy for the relief of focal epilepsy 6 months to 6 years prior to contact were asked to rate themselves on a questionnaire designed to look at "real-life" memory skills. The temporal lobe patients, as a group, saw themselves as having poorer memories than normals, but only 3 out of 43 items showed significant differences between right-and left-sided lobectomy patients. Our hypotheses that age at operation, reduction in seizure frequency and time since operation (in the left temporal lobe patients only) would determine the extent of subject complaint of memory were fully confirmed. In addition, sex of the patient was found to be a significant variable. The status of subjective and objective measures of memory as indices of "real-life" memory skills is discussed.