RESUMO
The effect of epilepsy on cognitive functions has been investigated in this study. The P300 auditory event related potentials (AERP), Wechsler Adult Performance Intelligence Scale (WAPIS--Indian Adaptation) & Digit Span Test (DST) have been used to assess the cognitive status. Twenty primary generalised epilepsy patients and 20 normal controls were subjected to WAPIS & DST testing and their AERP recorded. On comparative statistical analysis, epileptic subjects were found to have significantly higher N2 & P300 latencies and lower P300 amplitude, WAPIS-IQ scores & DST scores. These findings suggest that there is a general decline of cognitive functions in epileptics especially the memory, attention, concentration and speed of mental processing and as also corroborated by P300 and that P300 can be used as an additional sensitive parameter to assess the cognitive status.