Functional brain networks in temporal lobe epilepsy and their relation to cognition

Speaker: Alexander Barnett, Postdoctoral Scholar

University of California Davis, Dynamic Memory Lab, Center for Neuroscience, USA

Talk Abstract: Temporal lobe epilepsy affects over 50 million people and is characterized by recurrent seizures originating in the temporal lobes, with the hippocampus often being implicated. People with this disorder typically present with varying degrees of impairment in memory and language functioning. In this talk, I will present research examining the functional connectivity of the hippocampus in healthy controls and people with temporal lobe epilepsy. We find that the anterior and posterior hippocampus have distinguishable patterns of functional connectivity and this overall pattern is maintained in temporal lobe epilepsy. However, the epileptogenic hippocampus has reduced connectivity to the rest of the default mode network, and the degree to which this connectivity is impaired relates to clinical measures of memory ability. Finally, we expanded our scope of analysis to look at whole brain functional connections, finding that temporal lobe epilepsy is characterized by reduced intra-network functional connectivity, particularly within the default mode network and somatomotor network, with increased internetwork functional connectivity.