We investigated the patient cognition with temporal lobe epilepsy that presented or no mesial injury in magnetic resonance exam. We used classics and ecological neuropsychological tests to indicate possible functional alterations, and to compare results between ecological and traditional instruments. Thirty-four people match in age and study year were separate in three groups: 12 patients with mesial injury; 12 without injury and 10 health people. We used for functional evaluation: Wechsler adult intelligence and memory scales subtests, verbal fluency and Rivermead behavior memory test. The patients with injuries presented low cognitive performance when compared with control groups in various tasks: attentional span, memory, speech, daily problems resolution, while the patients without injury showed more compensated with mild attentional alterations. Both traditional memory tests and ecological memory tests were efficient to describe the cognitive profile of patients with epilepsy.