Rey
Auditory Verbal Learning Test
The Auditory Verbal
Learning Test (AVLT) is one of the first commercially available tests for the
assessment of memory. It was originally published in 1907 by Édouard Claparède,
a renowned Swiss psychologist, and was called the Test de Mémoire des Mots
(Test of Memory for Words; Claparède, 1919). It was significantly reworked in
the 1960s, and appeared
as Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Later it has evolved over
the years, and several variations of the test have emerged. The standard RAVLT test uses a list-learning format to examine verbal abilities
including immediate memory, efficiency of learning, effects of interference,
and recall following short and long delay periods.
Participants are
read a list of 15 words aloud by the person administering the test. The entire
test takes 10-15 minutes to administer and includes five presentations of a 15
word list (list A), followed by a free recall of a second word list (list B).
Finally there is a sixth recall trial of the first list (List A). The test may
also assess delayed recall with a seventh recall trial administered after a
20-30 minute delay. Recognition is tested by asking which of 30 words were read
aloud from list A and which were not. The words are read at a rate of one word
per second. The overall goal of the task is to repeat all of the words the
participant can remember in any order.
This verbal learning and memory test (Rey's Auditory
Verbal Learning Test-RAVLT) has been found scientifically as an early
neuropsychological marker of dementia of Alzheimer's type (DAT).
The
California Verbal Learning Test
The California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) is a neuropsychological test which can be
used to assess an individual's verbal
memory abilities.
The tester reads aloud a list, called "Monday's
shopping list". The list contains sixteen common words, each of which
belongs to one of four categories: thus, there are four fruits, four herbs and
spices, etc. The subject is then asked to recall as many of these items as
possible.
There are several components to this test. First,
the tester records how many items the subject remembers over several repeated
trials. Additionally, the tester records whether or not the subject is making
use of category information. For instance, suppose the four fruit items are
Apples, Bananas, Oranges, Cherries, and suppose the subject can only remember
Apples, Bananas and Oranges. If the subject cannot remember the fourth item,
but guesses that it is another fruit (e.g., Grapes), the tester concludes that
the subject understood the category information in the list. If the subject
guesses an unrelated word (e.g., Chicken), the tester concludes that the
subject was not able to understand the category information in the list.
Next, the tester may give a second list ("Tuesday's shopping list"), and see if the subject is able to keep the items from each list separate, or if the two lists become confused.
Finally, there is a short delay of 20 minutes,
during which the subject is given other tasks to perform, and then the tester
again asks the subject to recall Monday's list.
Because it contains so many different components,
the CVLT is fairly popular as a neuropsychological test of many aspects of
verbal learning and memory. Overall, women tend to perform better than men on
the CVLT, especially in their ability to make use of category information.
Patients with different kinds of brain damage or disorder also show reliable
patterns of performance. For example, patients with Alzheimer's disease tend to be unable to make use of category
information (and might recall: Apples, Bananas, Oranges, Chicken) while
patients with Parkinson's disease
tend to make repetition errors (for example: Apples, Bananas, Oranges,
Bananas).
Buschke-Fuld selective reminding test
Buschke-Fuld
selective reminding test is a good measure of recent verbal memory & new
learning in elderly subjects, similarly to RAVLT and CVLT, reviewed earlier.
The test provides
12 words which are selectively rehearsed by the subject until they are
memorized. That is, only those words not recalled on the immediately preceding
trial are presented. The subject then attends to an interference task or verbal
list. Subsequently, after a delay, the subject is asked to recall the words.
When spontaneous recall
is impaired, the examiner tests recognition by cueing the subject, or having
the subject identify the words from a short list or in a short paragraph.
This strategy
allows for the evaluation of various aspects of memory including: learning
curve, sensitivity to interference, amount of new learning, recognition &
retrieval.
All three tests are
not self-administrated, and they need to be arranged and assessed by the
trained professionals.
Sources
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