文摘
Declarative memory evaluation is an essential step in the clinical and neuropsychological assessment of a variety of neurological disorders. It typically addresses the issue of normality/abnormality of an individual’s performance. Another clinical application of the neuropsychological assessment of declarative memory is the longitudinal evaluation of an individual’s performance change. In fact, in a variety of neurological conditions repeated assessments are needed to evaluate the modifications of a memory disorder as a function of time or in response to a pharmacological or rehabilitation treatment. This study was aimed at collecting data for measuring and interpreting performance change on a memory test for verbal material. For this purpose, we administered to 100 healthy subjects (age range 20-0?years; years of formal education range 8-7?years) three parallel forms of a test requiring the immediate and delayed recall of a 15-word list. The subjects performed the recall test three times (each time with a different list) at least 1?week apart. The order of the lists was randomized across subjects. Results revealed that performance on the three lists was highly correlated and did not vary as a function of the order of presentation. However, accuracy of recall was slightly better on a list compared to the others. Based on a method devised by Payne and Jones (J Clin Psychol 13:115-21, 1957), we provide normative data for establishing whether a discrepancy in recall accuracy on two versions of the test exceeds the discrepancy expected based on the performance of normal controls.