Mayo's older americans normative studies: WMS-R norms for ages 56 to 94

Abstract

Data obtained in Mayo's Older Americans Normative Studies (MOANS) provide age-specific norms for the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) on a sample of 441 cognitively normal persons age 56 to 94. Memory Indices derived from these norms are termed “MAYO Verbal Memory (MVeMI), MAYO Visual Memory (MViMI), MAYO General Memory (MGMI), MAYO Attention/Concentration (MACI), MAYO Delayed Recall (MDRI) and MAYO Percent Retention (MPRI) Indices” to differentiate them from traditional WMS-R Memory Indices. MVeMI, MViMI, MGMI and MACI values are, by design, estimates of WMS-R Indices. Test administration and index computation differences employed in these projects prohibit extension of the WMS-R Delayed Memory Index to older ages. However, two new indices (MDRI and MPRI) are presented to serve similar purposes. Tables needed to convert WMS-R subtests raw scores to age-corrected scaled scores and to determine the summary MAYO Indices are presented for ages 56 through 94. A different methodology was used to compute MAYO indices than is used to compute WMS-R indices. Nonetheless, concordance rates suggest that the performance characteristics of the comparable MAYO and WMS-R Verbal Memory, Visual Memory, General Memory and Attention/Concentration Indices are very similar at ages where both can be validly calculated.