Highlights
- •The different processing speed terms reflect the different stages of the process.
- •Paper-and-pencil tests can distinguish process components.
- •Computerised tests can provide accurate measures of processing speed.
- •Epileptic discharges, seizures, and AEDs can affect processing speed.
- •Impaired processing speed is a specific feature of TLE phenotype.
Abstract
Background
Impaired processing speed (PS) can affect patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).
However, it is usually considered a nonspecific clinical feature and is not measured,
but this raises lexical and methodological problems. This review aims to evaluate
the existing terminology and assessment methods of PS in patients with TLE.
Methods
A scoping review was conducted based on the extended guidelines of the Preferred Reporting
Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis. The electronic literature search was
conducted on Medline-PubMed, American Psychological Association-PsycINFO, Elton Bryson
Stephens Company, and Google Scholar, using the keywords “temporal lobe epilepsy”
and “speed” or “slowing” plus “processing,” “cognitive,” “psychomotor,” or “mental.”
Peer-reviewed articles published before December 2022 were analyzed if they were in
English, including patients older than 14 years and at least one neuropsychological
measure, reported original research focused on PS and had the selected keywords in
the title, keywords, and abstract.
Results
Seven articles published between December 2004 and September 2021 were selected. The
terms “processing speed,” “psychomotor speed,” and “information processing speed,”
based on similar theoretical constructs, were the most frequently used. Assessment
methods included non-computerized or paper-and-pencil tests (WAIS-III Digit Symbol
and Symbol Search subtests, Purdue Pegboard and Grooved Pegboard Tests, Trail Making
Test and Stroop Color-Word Test) and computerized tests (Sternberg Memory Scanning
Test, Pattern Comparison Processing Speed, Computerized Visual Searching). In some
studies, impairment was associated with white and gray matter damage in the brain,
independent of clinical and treatment variables.
Conclusion
Clinical research on TLE has focused inconsistently on PS. Different evaluation terms
and methods have been used while referring to similar theoretical constructs. These
findings highlight a gap between the clinical importance of PS and its assessment.
Studies are needed to share terms and tools among clinical centers and clarify the
position of PS in the TLE phenotype.
Keywords
Abbreviations:
AED (antiepileptic drug), BECTS (Benign epilepsy with center-temporal spikes), FLE (frontal lobe epilepsy), PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and meta-Analysis-Extension for Scoping Review), PS (processing speed), TLE (temporal lobe epilepsy), TMT (Tral making Test)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 22, 2023
Accepted:
February 28,
2023
Received in revised form:
February 16,
2023
Received:
December 23,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
