Temporal Lobes

Kolb & Wishaw (1990) have identified eight principle symptoms of temporal lobe damage: 1) disturbance of auditory sensation and perception, 2) disturbance of selective attention of auditory and visual input, 3) disorders of visual perception, 4) impaired organization and categorization of verbal material, 5) disturbance of language comprehension, 6) impaired long-term memory, 7) altered personality and affective behavior, 8) altered sexual behavior.

Functions:

• Hearing ability
• Memory aquisition
• Some visual perceptions
• Catagorization of objects.

Observed Problems:

• Difficulty in recognizing faces (Prosopagnosia).
• Difficulty in understanding spoken words (Wernicke's Aphasia).
• Disturbance with selective attention to what we see and hear.
• Difficulty with identification of, and verbalization about objects.
• Short-term memory loss.
• Interference with long-term memory
• Increased or decreased interest in sexual behavior.
• Inability to catagorize objects (Catagorization).
• Right lobe damage can cause persistant talking.
• Increased aggressive behavior.