CUP Faculty Research

Title

Memory Testing and Digit Span: Concurrent and Construct Validity of the Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL) Utilizing the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-1995

Abstract

This study examined the validity of the Digit and Letter subscales of the Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL) as compared to analogous portions of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R). Subjects (n = 205) were recruited as part of a larger study examining the concurrent validity of the TOMAL with the WMS-R, the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), the Warrington Recognition Memory Test (faces and words), and the Rey Osterrieth Complex Figure Design. A counter-balanced design was implemented with 17-19 year old subjects. Each provided informed consent and was given extra credit in their undergraduate psychology course for participation. Within the TOMAL scale, Digits Forward and Backward as well as Letters Forward and Backward are strongly correlated (p < .001). In the TOMAL these subtests follow similar methodological procedures to those used in the WMS-R Digit Span. Subsequently, the Digit Forward subscale is correlated with the Verbal Memory Index of the TOMAL (r = .5511, p < .001) as well as with trial one of the RAVLT (r = .2900, p < .01), the corresponding Verbal Memory Score of the WMS-R (r = 2228, p < .05) and the WMS-R Digit Span (r = .5799, p < .001). Digits forward are also found to be correlated with the WMS-R's Attention/Concentration Index (r = .4808, p < .001). Although each of these statistics support the internal consistency as well as concurrent validity of the TOMAL, construct validity is ratified by the lack of correlation found between this verbal memory task and the Nonverbal Memory Scale on the TOMAL (r = .0540, p = .558).

Comments

Publication Information.

Russo, A. A., Barker, L. H., Mueller, R. M., Lajiness-O'Neil, R., Johnson, S., Anderson, C., Norman, M. A., Sephton, S., Primus, E., Bigler, E. D., & Reynolds, C. R. (1995). Memory testing and digit span: Concurrent and construct validity of the Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL) utilizing the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R). Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 10(4), 386. doi:10.1016/0887-6177(95)93024-7

Source

CU Commons -- Social and Behavioral Sciences Department Faculty Research

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