Validation of the WMS-III Facial Memory subtest with the Graduate Hospital Facial Memory Test in a sample of right and left anterior temporal lobectomy patients.

A number of studies have shown visuospatial memory deficits following anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) in the right, nondominant temporal lobe (RATL). The current study examines 26 patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy who underwent ATL in either the right (RATL, n = 16) or left temporal lobe (LATL, n = 10) on two tests of facial memory abilities, the Wechsler Memory Scale-III (WMS-III) Faces subtest and the Graduate Hospital Facial Memory Test (FMT). Repeated measures ANOVA on the FMT indicated a significant main effect of side of surgery. The RATL group performed significantly below the LATL group overall. Both groups showed a slight, but non-significant, improvement in performance from pre- to postsurgery on the FMT immediate memory, likely due to practice effects. Repeated measures ANOVA on the WMS-III Faces subtest revealed a significant interaction of group (RATL vs. LATL) by delay (immediate vs. delayed). Overall, the LATL group showed an improvement in recognition scores from immediate to delayed memory, whereas the RATL group performed similarly at both immediate and delayed testing. No effects of surgery were noted on the WMS-III. Following initial data analysis the WMS-III Faces I and II data were re-scored using the scoring suggested by Holdnack and Delis (2003), earlier in this issue. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed a trend toward significance in the three-way interaction of group (RATL vs. LATL) x time of testing (pre- versus postop) x delay (immediate vs. delayed memory). On the Faces I subtest, both the RATL and LATL groups showed a decline from preoperative to postoperative testing. However, on Faces II the LATL group showed an increase in performance from preoperative to postoperative testing, while the RALT group showed a decline in performance from preoperative to postoperative testing. While the FMT appears to be superior to the WMS-III Faces subtest in identifying deficits in facial memory prior to and following RATL, the application of the scoring methodology presented by Holdnack and Delis earlier in this issue does serve to increase the clinical utility of the WMS-III Faces subtest in this population.