Structures other than the hippocampus appear to mediate learning of unrelated word pairs.
Sparing the left hippocampus is thought to be the most effective means of preventing decline in postsurgical verbal memory in individuals with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy. This practice is based on the assumption that the left hippocampus mediates verbal learning. Although this assumption is largely accurate, recent literature suggests that parahippocampal and even some cortical structures are also critically involved in certain aspects of learning and memory retrieval. Now, Weintrob and colleagues present findings suggesting that while sparing the left hippocampus may preserve some facets of verbal learning, others can become impaired if critical parahippocampal structures are excised.
The authors studied four individuals with left t…