Patients with seizures were admitted to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center for video-EEG monitoring. Patients and controls were asked to watch a 30-minute film. (Only patient EEG data were collected and synced with the film in 1 second intervals.) All participants answered questions about the film at two time points: (1) immediately after watching, and (2) 24 hours after watching. Participants could choose to provide their own response (free recall) or, if unsure, to choose the correct answer on the next screen (recognition). They then rated their confidence level in their chosen answer. All received three questions per scene of the film targeting a distinct type of memory: verbal, episodic, and visual. After discharge, patients’ seizures were characterized as epileptic or psychogenic using EEG data. 

Same-day recall is similarly impaired in patients with both epileptic and non-epileptic seizures.  Those with epileptic seizures have lower confidence ratings compared to those with non-epileptic seizures, despite similar memory deficits. 24-hour recall is impaired only in patients with epileptic seizures, which demonstrates accelerated long-term forgetting. Importantly, patients with non-epileptic seizures do not demonstrate this phenomenon.