Question

Studying the neural correlates of language allows us to understand what areas of the brain are
involved in language acquisition, comprehension and production, and what problems might arise if
such regions of the brain were damaged. Apply the findings of current research to examine the
effects of temporal lobe epilepsy on language production and comprehension.
[Word limit = 1000 words]

The temporal lobe is believed to be involved mainly in memory, emotions as well as language,
specifically, the Broca's and Wernicke's area which are adjacent or at the left temporal lobe are
believed to be involved in language production and comprehension, and damage to these areas were
thought to impair language (Embick, Marantz, Miyashita, O'Neil, & Sakai, 2000; Kim, Relkin, Lee,
& Hirsch, 1997). One way that that these areas might be damaged, is through a condition known as
temporal lobe epilepsy. The exact mechanisms behind epilepsy are not yet well known, but it is
believed to involve over synchronization of the brain and leads to damage to affected areas of the
brain (Lopes da Silva et al., 2003). Temporal lobe epilepsy is a more specific form of epilepsy that
refers to the temporal lobe being affected, a study done by Mayeux, Brandt, Rosen, & Benson
(1980) showed that temporal lobe epilepsy on the left side of the brain causes some disruptions to
language and memory, which will be discussed further in detail. The focus of this essay will be the
effects of temporal lobe epilepsy on language abilities.

To better appreciate the effects of temporal lobe epilepsy on language, a comparison between
general epilepsy and temporal lobe epilepsy's effects on language was considered. In a study on
patients with general, and temporal lobe epilepsy, a significant difference was found on a verbal
naming test which involves selecting appropriate labels for a viewed stimulus a language
production test, furthermore patients with left temporal epilepsy were also discovered to be
impaired in verbal sub-tests of intelligence and memory (Mayeux, Brandt, Rosen, & Benson, 1980;

Lambon Ralph, Ehsan, Baker, & Rogers, 2012). These results suggest that the effect that temporal
lobe epilepsy has on the left-side brain is that it causes deficiencies in language production
specifically anomia which is an inability to produce words, particularly nouns and verbs, to
further complicate matters, anomia may inhibit a person's ability to learn new words, thus creating a
compounded negative effect on language production and learning of an individual thus the
impairment in verbal sub-tests of intelligence and memory (Dignam, Copland, Rawlings, OBrien,
Burfein, & Rodriguez, 2016).

In children, temporal lobe epilepsy has also been shown to impair both language production and
comprehension when compared to controls (Lendt, Helmstaedter & Elger, 1999). The presence of
temporal lobe epilepsy on both sides causes a reduction in language capabilities on both language
production and comprehension, however left temporal lobe epilepsy in particular impairs language
comprehension to a larger extent in children. Therefore the left temporal lobe appears to be
important in comprehension and production of language and patients with left-side temporal
damage may have little hope of achieving proficiency, but this may not be the case.

Language capabilities are believed to be located on the left side of the brain, however patients who
suffer from temporal lobe epilepsy display neuroplasticity in the lateralization of language
capabilities. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) it was found that patients whose
temporal lobe epilepsy was located on the left hemisphere had greater activation on the right side of
the brain, indicating considerable neuroplasticity in language capabilities (Adcock, Wise, Oxbury,
Oxbury, & Matthews, 2003). Further supporting evidence comes from a fMRI study where patients
who suffered from right and generalized epilepsy had language-related activations mainly on the
left side of the brain, while left-side epilepsy patients displayed more symmetrical language
functions across the brain and increased structural connections on the right hemisphere (Powell,
Parker, Alexander, Symms, Boulby, Wheeler-Kingshott, Barker, Koepp & Duncan, 2007).

The implications of this research is that although language appears to be localized in the left
hemisphere, through neuroplasticity, language functions can spread throughout the brain including
the right hemisphere thus mitigating impairment of language and increasing diffusion of language
functions. Further supporting evidence for this can be seen in studies done on children, at a younger
age the brain shows more plasticity and children with epilepsy show greater diffused brain
activation for language production and comprehension when compared with adults (de Ribaupierre,
Wang, & Hayman-Abello, 2012).

In a study by Billingsley (2001), left temporal epilepsy did not significantly affect the performance
of language comprehension which is tested via a semantic decision task that involves being
presented with a bunch of words, some nonsensical and some real, and identifying real words
when compared to right temporal epilepsy and controls. This implies that left temporal epilepsy
may not have a profound effect on language comprehension or perhaps while the left temporal
region may be used in language comprehension tasks, they may not be crucial. Possible
explanations for this phenomena are found in the same study, it was found that temporal lobe
epilepsy patients had increased frontal activation compared to people who did not have epilepsy and
thus it was speculated they used a different cognitive strategy in the comprehension of language.
This finding could explain why Billingsley's (2001) study runs contrary to Lendt, Helmstaedter &
Eldger's (1999), as a child's frontal cortex has not fully developed, they may be unable to use
complex strategies to comprehend language (Taki & Kawashima, 2012).

Therefore, while left temporal lobe epilepsy appears to affect the performance of adults in language
production, it was not so for language comprehension. Given a longer period of time to adjust and
because of neuroplasticity, the performance for language comprehension might improve; adult
patients in the studies presented in this essay had an early onset of seizures about 11 to 13 years

and they participated during their adult years 20 to 50. This may suggest that the effects temporal
lobe epilepsy has on language production are harder to compensate for as compared to language
comprehension.

In conclusion, temporal lobe epilepsy has a negative effect on language production and
comprehension, although depending on the age of the patient it may manifest differently. The brain
shows great neuroplasticity in response to epilepsy, however certain language functions in the left
temporal lobe may be too crucial as patients who suffer from left temporal epilepsy still perform
poorly on language production tasks as compared to right temporal or generalized epilepsy.

Word count: 1018

References

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