Brief Communication Verbal memory in children with temporal lobe epilepsy: Exploring task-specificity Gabriella Roubicek a , Linda Gonzalez a,b , Suncica Lah c, ⁎, Angie Jackman a , A Simon Harvey d,e , Michael Martin Saling a,f a Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia b Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, 50 Flemington Road, Parkville, Victoria, Australia c School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, 94 – 100 Mallett Street, Camperdown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia d Department of Neurology, Royal Children's Hospital, 50 Flemington Road, Parkville, Victoria, Australia e Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia f The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, 245 Burgundy Street, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia abstract article info Article history: Received 21 April 2020 Revised 30 June 2020 Accepted 11 July 2020 Available online 11 August 2020 Rationale: This study explored the applicability of the adult model of task-specificity of memory to children with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Method: Retrospective clinical audit; 38 children and adolescents (6–16 years) with lesional TLE (n = 22 mesial; n = 16 lateral) treated at tertiary pediatric hospitals completed two types of verbal memory paradigms: arbitrary associa- tive (Verbal Paired Associates – Hard Pairs) and semantically related (Verbal Paired Associates – Easy Pairs; Stories). Results: Children with mesial TLE performed more poorly than their lateral TLE counterparts on both types of memory paradigms: arbitrary associative and semantically related (Stories only). Groups with left and right TLE performed comparably on all verbal memory measures. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the adult model of task-specificity may not be completely applicable to children with TLE. Consideration of the developmental context is critical in research and clinical work with pediatric populations. © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Temporal lobe epilepsy Verbal memory Task-specificity Children 1. Introduction There is a strong theoretical position to suggest that verbal memory paradigms devoid of semantic structure (e.g., arbitrary paired associ- ates) represent a particularly sensitive marker of hippocampal function among adults with left temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) [1]. This position stems from Saling's task-specificity model, which emphasises a dissoci- ation between arbitrary and semantic forms of verbal learning; medi- ated by the mesial and lateral temporal structures, respectively [1]. This model constitutes a paradigmatic shift away from the traditional notion of material-specificity [2], with a focus on within as opposed to between temporal lobe specialization. While the model of task- specificity concurs with the view that the hippocampus is primarily re- sponsible for the binding of information [3], the applicability of this model to the cohort with pediatric TLE remains unclear. Very few studies have examined the sensitivity of verbal memory par- adigms to mesial and lateral dysfunction in pediatric TLE [4–9]. While there is some evidence to suggest that children with mesial (as opposed to lateral) TLE perform more poorly on arbitrary [4–7] and semantic par- adigms [5,9], interpretation of these findings in the context of task- specificity is limited due to the inclusion of single-paradigm studies, nonpure mesial samples, and/or the focus on alternative explanations. The study by Cormack and colleagues [5] is of particular relevance to the current research. These authors investigated performance across two verbal memory paradigms among children and adolescents with TLE: 24 with hippocampal sclerosis and 20 with dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors (DNET) whose pathology predominantly in- volved the lateral neocortex. Compared with children with DNET, chil- dren with hippocampal sclerosis recalled fewer story details and verbal paired associates on delay, with effect sizes being somewhat greater for the recall of stories (semantically related paradigm), which is at odds with the task-specificity model. These unexpected findings were explained by stories being presented only once, and as such being more akin to hippocampus-dependent episodic memory, than verbal paired associates, which involved repeated presentations. While the study used an associative learning paradigm, it did not differ- entiate between arbitrarily and semantically related word pairs. This is Epilepsy & Behavior 111 (2020) 107341 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: groubicek@student.unimelb.edu.au (G. Roubicek), Linda.Gonzalez@rch.org.au (L. Gonzalez), suncica.lah@sydney.edu.au (S. Lah), arja@unimelb.edu.au (A. Jackman), simon.harvey@rch.org.au (A.S. Harvey), mmsaling@unimelb.edu.au (M.M. Saling). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2020.107341 1525-5050/© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Epilepsy & Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/yebeh