On-line detection of transient neuropsychological disturbances during EEG discharges in children with epilepsy

Short-term memory tasks (visual-spatial and verbal) were devised to identify the influence of transient EEG discharges, without clinically manifest disturbances, on neuropsychological performance. 53 children with subclinical focal and generalized EEG discharges were tested 72 times and 16-channel telemetered EEG and video-recordings were made. 36 per cent of test sessions showed a significant preponderance of errors when discharges were recorded. Children with right-sided discharges had impaired performance in 50 per cent of their test sessions, with performance on the visual-spatial task most affected: left-sided discharges appeared to exert greater influence on the verbal task. These tests can easily be used to monitor six- to 15-year-old children.