A historical term in psychiatry and neurology that describes the complex of behavioral and emotional features seen in some people with chronic epilepsy, especially temporal epilepsy. These included excessive seriousness, pedantry, emotional rigidity, detailed speech and a tendency to excessive detailing of thoughts. In modern medicine, this term is used with caution, since it is not an official diagnosis, and the listed features may be due to social, psychological, or drug factors, and not to epilepsy itself. More accurate descriptions of the cognitive and personality changes associated with epilepsy are now more commonly used.