Accelerated long-term forgetting in children with genetic generalized epilepsy : the temporal trajectory and contribution of executive skills

Purpose: Long-term memory, which is critical for social and vocational functioning, is impaired in children with genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE). In this study, we examined the relationship between the temporal pattern of long-term forgetting for visual and verbal materials and executive skills in children with GGE. Method: Thirty-two children, 17 with GGE and 25 typically developing age-matched controls completed standardized tests of short-term memory (recall after a 30-minute delay), executive skills, and experimental long-term memory tasks (one verbal and one visual) involving recall after one short (30- minute), and two long (1-day, 2-week) delays. Results: On the long-term visual memory task, children with GGE performed comparably with typically developing children at a 30-minute delay (p = .298), although obtained lower object placement accuracy score, at 1 day (p = .039) and at 2 weeks (p = .022) relative to typically developing children. On the verbal task, the between-group difference was not significant at any delay. In children with GGE, poorer object placement accuracy at two weeks correlated with lower visuospatial short-term memory (r = -0.624, p = .005) and verbal working memory (r = -0.448, p = .041). Conclusions: This study provided several novel findings. For the first time, accelerated long-term forgetting (ALF) was found in long-term visual memory in children with GGE, despite comparable learning and recall at 30 min. Study results indicated that deficits in long-term visual memory are present after one day, increase over time, and may relate to reduced executive skills. Our findings can be used to inform our understanding of the temporal trajectory of ALF and contribution of executive skills

[In Press] Repeat testing enhances long-term verbal memory in children with epilepsy

To (i) determine whether accelerated long-term forgetting (ALF) can be found using standardized verbal memory test materials in children with genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE) and temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and (ii) to establish whether ALF is impacted by executive skills and repeat testing over long delays. One hundred and twenty-three children aged 8 to 16, (28 with GGE, 23 with TLE, and 72 typically developing; TD) completed a battery of standardized tests assessing executive functioning and memory for two stories. Stories were recalled immediately and after a 30-min delay. To examine whether repeat testing impacts long-term forgetting, one story was tested via free recall at 1-day and 2-weeks, and the other at 2-weeks only. Recognition was then tested for both stories at 2-weeks. Children with epilepsy recalled fewer story details, both immediately and after 30-min relative to TD children. Compared to TD children, the GGE group, but not the TLE group, showed ALF, having significantly poorer recall of the story tested only at the longest delay. Poor executive skills were significantly correlated with ALF for children with epilepsy. Standard story memory materials can detect ALF in children with epilepsy when administered over long delays. Our findings suggest that (i) ALF is related to poor executive skills in children with epilepsy, and (ii) repeated testing may ameliorate ALF in some children