Materials and methods research of higher psychical functions was conducted on the basis of the classical neuropsychological pattern of A. R. Luria. 20 children with the temporal lobe arachnoid cysts aged from 6 to 15 were surveyed.

Results qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the survey results. Three variants of the clinical manifestations of temporal lobes arachnoid cysts have been identified: asymptomatic (7 patients), moderate (5 patients) and severe impairment of higher mental functions (8 patients).

In patients with severe impairment of higher mental functions temporal symptoms were predominant, to a lesser degree – frontal symptoms (impaired verbal memory, nonverbal- auditory gnosis, phonemic hearing, dynamic praxis, voluntary attention, visual-figurative, verbal-logical thinking).

In the group with moderate impairment of higher mental functions temporal lobe symptoms were more pronounced, to a lesser degree subcortical symptoms (violation of aural and visual memory, auditory-nonverbal gnosis, phonemic hearing, fluctuations in attention, impulsivity, exhaustion).

Conclusions In patients with moderate and severe disorders of higher mental functions symptoms of the temporal localization disorders are more prominent, indicating the correlation between focus localization and clinical manifestations, meaning that this brain area is involved in the pathological process. Moderate severity of cognitive impairment and their absence in most patients suggest compensatory possibilities of the brain, its neuroplasticity.