Spatial memory in people with temporal lobe epilepsy
Spatial Memory and Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
We test whether people with temporal lobe epilepsy forget learned routes and other spatial information faster than similar healthy volunteers using a hospital navigation task.
Quick facts
| Phase | Not applicable |
|---|---|
| Study type | Interventional |
| Enrollment | 37 (estimated) |
| Ages | 18 Years and up |
| Sex | All |
| Sponsor | Centre Hospitalier Metropole Savoie Academic / other |
| Locations | 1 site (Chambéry, Savoie) |
| Trial ID | NCT06847152 on ClinicalTrials.gov |
What this trial studies
Participants learn a route inside the hospital and are asked to reproduce it after one hour and again six weeks later to measure long-term forgetting. Performance of right- and left-lateralized temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients is compared with age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers. The protocol focuses on right-handed adults and uses statistical comparisons to detect accelerated forgetting and possible effects of lesion laterality. The study also examines whether sex differences appear in spatial learning among healthy controls.
Who should consider this trial
Good fit: Right-handed adults with confirmed right- or left-lateralized temporal lobe epilepsy and a spatial memory complaint who can perform the navigation task, plus matched right-handed healthy volunteers, are the ideal participants.
Not a fit: People who are not right-handed, are pregnant or breastfeeding, are legally restricted from consent, or do not have lateralized temporal lobe epilepsy are unlikely to gain direct benefit from participating.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the findings could improve detection of long-term spatial memory loss in TLE and inform targeted rehabilitation or counseling.
How similar studies have performed: Previous work has consistently shown accelerated long-term forgetting for verbal material in TLE and some studies indicate similar problems for spatial memory, though methods and results have varied.
Eligibility criteria
Show full inclusion / exclusion criteria
Inclusion Criteria: \- healthy volunteers meeting each of the following criteria: * Aged over 18 years * Right-handed\* * Free of known neurological pathology * Signed consent * Matched in age (+ or - 5 years) and gender with epileptic patients presenting the characteristics below: * Right-handed\* * adult * presenting temporal lobe epilepsy, whose lateralization of the epileptogenic focus (right or left) has been objectified by an examination (EEG and/or MRI), * having carried out a neuropsychological assessment including the navigation task, * having been informed of the study, and consenting to the processing of their data Exclusion Criteria: * Person referred to in Article L1121-5 of the Public Health Code: Pregnant, parturient, or breastfeeding women * Person referred to in Article L1121-6 of the Public Health Code: persons deprived of their judicial or administrative freedom * Person referred to in Article L1121-8 of the Public Health Code: persons subject to a legal protection measure or unable to express their consent * Person referred to in Article L1121-8-1 of the Public Health Code: persons not affiliated to a social security scheme * Left-handed participants * Participants familiar with the premises of the Centre Hospitalier Métropole Savoie * Not speaking French Exclusion criteria Patients who have undergone epilepsy neurosurgery between the initial visit and the secondary visit of the neuropsychological assessment will not be paired with a healthy volunteer. Their data will not be studied. Volunteers whose pretest scores reveal a cognitive disorder (pathological threshold \> 1.65) will not perform the navigation task. They will then be referred to a neurologist.
Where this trial is running
Chambéry, Savoie
- Centre Hospitalier Métropole Savoie — Chambéry, Savoie, France (Recruiting)
Study contacts
- Study coordinator: Jacqueline BOUCHET
- Email: jacqueline.bouchet@ch-metropole-savoie.fr
- Phone: +33479965161
How to participate
- Review the eligibility criteria above with your treating physician.
- Visit the official trial page on ClinicalTrials.gov for the most current contact information and recruitment status.
- Contact the listed study coordinator or principal investigator to request pre-screening. Pre-screening is free and never obligates you to enroll.