Shock, Surgery and Cerebral Asymmetry

¹ Professor of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

It is contended that some of the incidental and transient effects of ECT on learning and memory closely resemble those more severe and chronic impairments that are known to be the side-effects of temporal lobectomy in man. This contention may be supported by three kinds of evidence. At the simplest physical level the two kinds of procedure are carried out at similar sites on the human head. From the physiological evidence it appears that electrical stimulation has a local as well as a general action on the brain. The areas most likely to be affected by ECT lie within the temporal lobes and the most probable result of their disturbance is some form of amnesic disorder. The psychological evidence points to close similarities between the behavioural effects of shock and surgery. Both kinds of interference on the dominant side of the brain produce defects of verbal learning; on the non-dominant side they produce defects of non-verbal learning. These parallels imply a pressing need for the systematic study of other modes of ECT that would interfere as little as possible with the normal activity of those parts of the human brain that are essential for adequate learning and memory function.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. Lock and J. McCulloch Local cerebral glucose utilization after chronic electroconvulsive shock: implications for the mode of action of electroconvulsive therapy J Psychopharmacol, January 1, 1991; 5(2): 111 - 119. [Abstract] [PDF]