“Psychomotor” or “Temporal Lobe” Epilepsy

Abstract

Six hundred sixty six recent electroencephalographic, neurophysiologic, anatomic and experimental studies, together with detailed clinical observations and the results of surgical therapy, have crystallized the concept of "psychomotor" or "temporal lobe" epilepsy. Both of the above designations for the ensuing seizures, however, are objected to by certain investigators; the former because it has no anatomic significance and because the seizures do not always have motor components, and the latter because the discharge is not always limited to the anatomic bounds of the temporal lobe. The term "psychomotor epilepsy" is an adequate descriptive term, however, but when used one should regard the seizure as a syndrome, not as an entity, and one must bear in mind the anatomic and pathophysiologic background of each manifestation of the disorder.