Effects of neonatal medial versus lateral temporal cortex injury: theoretical comment on Malkova et al. (2010)

The article by Malkova, Mishkin, Suomo, and Bachevalier (2010, this issue) adds an important piece to our understanding of the role of the medial versus lateral temporal regions in socioemotional behavior. In their paper, they evaluate the effect of infant and adult amygdala lesions and infant inferotemporal cortex lesions on the social interactions of monkeys in infancy and adulthood. The results show that medial temporal lesions performed in infants produce greater effects on socioaffective behavior than similar lesions in adulthood and that infant monkeys with inferotemporal lesions exhibit social deficits that are resolved by adulthood. These results are relevant to three significant issues: (1) the role of the medial temporal and lateral temporal cortex in the symptoms of the Kluver-Bucy syndrome; (2) the role of age at injury in behavioral change after cerebral injuries; and (3) the importance of lesion locus and behavioral measure for recovery from infant and adult cerebral injury.