ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the decision-making impulsivity in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy.Methods 39 patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy and 40 healthy controls completed delay discounting task.The participants were demanded to make a series of choices between two different rewards after a delayed period (a smaller sooner reward or a larger longer reward).Results The delay discount rate k was transformed to common logarithm lg (k),and lg (k)=-1.75±0.86 in IGE group was more larger than that in HC group lg (k)=-2.21±0.72(t=2.58,P=0.01).IGE group performed worse than HC group in verbal fluency test-semantic (M (P25,P75):16.00 (14.00,19.00) vs 18.00 (16.00,22.75),Z =-2.86,P＜0.01),verbal fluency test-voice (M (P25,P75):4.00 (3.00,6.00) vs 7.00 (6.00,10.00),Z =-4.26,P＜0.01) and digital span backward test (M(P25,P75):5.00(5.00,7.00) vs 6.00 (5.00,8.00),Z=-2.48,P=0.01).In addition,lg (k) had significant correlation with verbal fluency test-semantic (r=0.32,P=0.048).Conclusion IGE group prefer immediate rewards and show more impulsive than HC group in delay discounting task.IGE group has cognitive deficit in frontal lobe language function and attention function.In addition,impulsivity is correlated with frontal lobe function.