The WMS-III is a thoroughly validated in normal populations [134], and clinical populations including epilepsy [143, 144]. The WMS has been used repeatedly in JME research [13, 14, 72] and was chosen to determine immediate and delayed recall ability. Ten subtests were administered namely, Logical memory, Verbal paired associates, Faces, Family Picture, Letter number sequencing and Spatial Span. From these subtests General Memory, Working Memory, Immediate Memory, Visual Immediate and Delayed, Auditory Immediate and Delayed, and Auditory Recognition Delayed Memory index scores were obtained for each participant and used in the statistical analysis. Scaled scores were calculated using WAIS-WMS writer software for each of the subtests for comparison.
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Auditory memory (immediate and delayed) was calculated from the Logical Memory and Verbal Paired Associates scores. These subtests are measures of memory functioning when information is presented orally. An individual with a deficit in auditory immediate memory may have problems with learning; this may have implications in all aspects of life when stimuli are presented in the auditory modality [134]. If an individual has a deficit in auditory delay memory they may experience a high rate of forgetting. For samples of each of these subtests please see Table 6.5 below.
For the Logical Memory subtest participants are read out two stories and asked to immediately recall as much of each of the stories as they can. Story one is read out first and recalled, followed by story two. Once the participant has recalled story two the story is read out again and the participant is asked to recall it once more. Participants are then asked to recall both stories following a 30 minute delay.
For the Verbal Paired Associates subtests participant are read out a list of eight word pairs. The first word of each pair is then repeated and the participant is asked to say which word goes with BANK for example. The list of pairs is read out four times and recalled four times (once every time the list is read out). Participants are then asked to recall the pairs once more after a 30 minute delay.
Table 6.5 Sample items for the Verbal memory subtests of the WMS
Subtest Sample item
Logical Memory Anna Thompson of South London who
was employed as a cook in a school canteen...
Verbal Paired Associates Truck-Arrow
Insect-Acorn Reptile-Clown
Visual memory (immediate and delayed) was calculated from the Faces and Family Pictures scores. These subtests are measures of memory functioning when information is presented visually. Similar problems in learning and forgetting that were described above in relation to auditory memory apply to visual memory. In addition to this the
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delayed visual subtests comprise of one recall paradigm (family pictures) and one recognition paradigm (faces). Thus a difference in performance on the two subtests may suggest meaningful differences in memory functioning. For example, a low score on the Family Pictures subtest, and high score on the Faces subtest may indicate a retrieval problem [134].
For the Faces subtest participants are presented with 24 faces for two seconds one at a time, which they are asked to remember. They are then presented with a group of 48 faces, and asked to say yes if a face is one from the group I asked them to remember or no if it is a new face. A score of zero or one can be given, depending on if the participant correctly identifies each face. Following a 30 minute delay participants are asked to correctly pick out the faces they were asked to remember from a new group of 48 faces. The scoring is the same as the immediate recall task.
For the Family pictures subtest participants were first presented with a picture of a family of five family members (Grandfather, Grandmother, Father, Mother, Son and Daughter) and a dog. They are then presented with four scenes with these family members and the dog in them for 10 seconds each. They are then asked to recall who was in the scene, where they were and what they were doing for each scene. Following a 30 minute delay participants are then asked to recall the four scenes again. For each correctly recalled character a score of one is given. For each correctly recalled location of a character a further score of one is given. Finally for each activity recalled a score of zero, one or two is given, depending on how accurately the participant describes what each character was doing. The scoring is the same for the immediate and delayed recall.
Auditory Recognition Delayed Memory was calculated from the Logical Memory recognition score and the Verbal Paired Associates recognition score. For the Logical Memory recognition participants were asked 15 question on story one and 15 question on story two. They were asked to simply say whether the statement is true or not. For the Verbal Paired Associates recognition participants were read out a list of 24 word pairs, which contained both the pairs they had learnt and new pairs. Participants were asked to say ‘yes’ if the pair was one they had learnt or ‘no’ if it was a new word pair. Please see Table 6.6 below for samples of the recognition subtests.
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Table 6.6 Samples of the recognition subtests from the WMS
Subtest Sample item
Logical Memory Recognition
Verbal Paired Associates Recognition
Was the women’s name Anna Thompson?
Rose-Bag Queen-Thumb Elephant-Glass
Immediate memory was calculated from the immediate recall scores from the Logical Memory, Verbal Paired Associates, Faces and Family Pictures subtests. General memory was calculated from the delayed recall scores from the Logical Memory, Verbal Paired Associates and Family Pictures subtests.