Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Subtests Research Articles

Normative Data for Selected Subtests of the WAIS-R in a Spanish-Speaking Adult Population Living in the U.S. – Mexico Border Region

Abstract Objective Adaptations of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Revised (WAIS-R) and accompanying norms exist for a limited number of Spanish-speaking populations, but none are available for US-dwelling Spanish speakers of Mexican origin, who make up the largest proportion of Latinas/os in the US. As part of a larger test adaptation and norming effort for Spanish-speakers from the US-Mexico border region, we generated and investigated demographically adjusted interpretive norms for selected WAIS-R subtests. Participants and Method Participants included 183 community-dwelling, primarily Spanish-speaking individuals, aged 20 to 55 (education range: 0-20 years; 58% female), who were residing in the US-Mexico border region. Participants completed the WAIS-R Spanish version (Block Design, Arithmetic, and Vocabulary subtests) as part of a larger neuropsychological battery. Demographically adjusted T-scores were calculated for these subtests using fractional polynomial equations, which controlled for age, education, and sex. We examined rates of neurocognitive impairment (T < 40) in our sample derived from the present demographically adjusted Spanish speaking norms and from the existing WAIS-R demographically adjusted norms for English-speaking Non-Latina/o White and Black adults. Results Based on the normalized distribution of T-scores, the newly developed regional Spanish-speaker norms yielded subtest rates of impaired performance between 13-16% (i.e., within the expected -1 SD). By comparison, the proportion of impaired subtest performances was between 4-6% when applying the existing English-speaking norms to our sample. Conclusions Regional normative data will improve interpretation of test performance on selected WAIS-R subtests for Spanish-speakers living in the US and will facilitate a more valid analysis of neuropsychological profile patterns in this population. Cross-validation with Spanish-speakers in other regions and/or with other national origins is needed.

Age-Related Changes in Auditory and Cognitive Abilities in Elderly Persons with Hearing Aids Fitted at the Initial Stages of Hearing Loss

In this study, we investigated the relation between the use of hearing aids at the initial stages of hearing loss and age-related changes in the auditory and cognitive abilities of elderly persons. 12 healthy elderly persons participated in an annual auditory and cognitive longitudinal examination for three years. According to their hearing level, they were divided into 3 subgroups - the normal hearing group, the hearing loss without hearing aids group, and the hearing loss with hearing aids group. All the subjects underwent 4 tests: pure-tone audiometry, syllable intelligibility test, dichotic listening test (DLT), and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) Short Forms. Comparison between the 3 groups revealed that the hearing loss without hearing aids group showed the lowest scores for the performance tasks, in contrast to the hearing level and intelligibility results. The other groups showed no significant difference in the WAIS-R subtests. This result indicates that prescription of a hearing aid during the early stages of hearing loss is related to the retention of cognitive abilities in such elderly people. However, there were no statistical significant correlations between the auditory and cognitive tasks.

The Malingering Factor

The influence of malingering and suboptimal performance on neuropsychological tests has become a major interest of clinical neuropsychologists. Methods to detect malingering have focused on specialized tests or embedded patterns associated with malingering present in the conventional neuropsychology tests. There are two stages to the study of their validity. The first stage involves whether the method can discriminate malingering subjects from those who are not malingering. In the second stage, they must be examined for their relationship to the conventional tests used to establish impairment and disability. Constantinou, Bauer, Ashendorf, Fisher, and McCaffrey (2005. Is poor performance on recognition memory effort measures indicative of generalized poor performance on neuropsychological tests? Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 20, 191-198.) conducted the only study in which correlations are presented between a commonly used symptom validity test, the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) and the subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R). A factor analysis was conducted using these correlations. It revealed a clear malingering factor that explained significant variance in the TOMM and the WAIS-R subtests. The relationship of malingering with cognitive tests is complex: some tests are sensitive to malingering and others are not. Factor analysis can summarize the magnitude of variance associated with each test and reveal the patterns of inter-relationships between malingering and clinical tests. The analysis also suggested that malingering assessment methods could be improved by the addition of timing the responses.

WAIS-R Features of Preclinical Huntington’s Disease: Implications for Early Detection

Background/Aims: The main purpose of the study was to determine whether the predicted age of onset of Huntington’s disease (HD) affects cognitive function as measured by the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R). The subscales and subtests, and their potential selectivity were examined in preclinical HD (30 mutation carriers and 34 noncarriers) with no motor or neuropsychiatric signs of HD. Methods: The predicted age of onset in mutation carriers was calculated by a regression equation allowing this group to be divided according to whether onset was predicted as within 12 years (HD+CLOSE) or longer than this (HD+DISTANT). Results: The HD+CLOSE group scored significantly lower on Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQ compared to noncarriers and performed significantly lower on 7 of the 11 WAIS-R subtests, with low average scores in language abilities, attention, abstract thinking, problem solving, visuospatial ability, and psychomotor speed. Conclusion: These low average scores affect general intelligence and functioning of HD+CLOSE carriers and are likely to reflect dysfunction of frontal cortex and frontostriatal circuits more than a decade before manifest symptoms. Our findings support a continuous linear model of slow cognitive decline in HD.

Mental retardation and WAIS-R scatter analysis

In an earlier article, the psychometric properties of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) subtest difference scores were explored using a sample with IQ < 80. Data were offered which allowed the practitioner to determine whether the difference between two subtests was statistically reliable. This article represents an extension of the earlier work. It presents a set of reliability estimates for the difference between a single WAIS-R subtest and the mean of all subtests, and permits the clinician to determine whether the difference obtained by a particular examinee is statistically significant.

高次脳機能障害者の職場復帰に関連する神経心理学的要因

We conducted neuropsychological tests of patients with higher brain dysfunction to examine the characteristics of barriers to employment. We tested 92 patients with higher brain dysfunction (average age of 36.3 +/- 13.8 years old, ranging between 16 and 63 years old, with an average post-injury period of 35.6 +/- 67.8 months) who were hospitalized at the university hospital between February 2002 and June 2007 for further neuropsychological evaluation, conducting the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R), Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R), the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (RBMT), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) and Behavioral Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS). The outcomes after discharge were classified between competitive employment, sheltered employment and non-employment, and the three groups were compared using one-way analysis of variance and the Scheffe test. The WAIS-R subtests were mutually compared based on the standard values of significant differences described in the WAIS-R manual. Verbal performance and full scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of WAIS-R were 87.7 +/- 15.6 (mean +/- standard deviation), 78.5 +/- 18.1 and 81.0 +/- 17.2, respectively, and verbal memory, visual memory, general memory, attention/concentration and delayed recall were 74.6 +/- 20.0, 76.6 +/- 21.4, 72.0 +/- 20.4, 89.0 +/- 16.5 and 65.2 +/- 20.8, respectively. The competitive employment group showed significantly higher scores in performance IQ and full IQ on the WAIS-R and verbal memory, visual memory, general memory and delayed recall on the WMS-R and RBMT than the non-employment group. The sheltered employment group showed a significantly higher score in delayed recall than the non-employment group. No difference was observed in the FAB or BADS between the three groups. In the subtests of the WAIS-R, the score for Digit Symbol-Coding was significantly lower than almost all the other subtests. For patients with higher brain dysfunction, IQ (full scale IQ > 53.2) and memory (general memory > 74.1) are important indicators in returning to work under the conditions of competitive employment.

Factor analytic support for social cognition as a separable cognitive domain in schizophrenia

Social cognition has received increasing attention in schizophrenia due to its theoretical relevance to core features of the disorder as well as the marked deficits in social functioning exhibited by these patients. However, there remains a need to develop and validate measures of social cognitive abilities and to demonstrate that they are constructs that are separable from non-social neurocognitive processes. In the current study, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) was administered to 169 males with schizophrenia, and test results were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to determine if those WAIS-R subtests containing social content would form a distinct Social Cognition (SC) factor. CFA was used to evaluate various models that hypothesized an SC factor, and for comparison purposes the same models were evaluated in the WAIS-R standardization sample. Results confirmed the presence of a four-factor model that included an SC factor, as well as the more commonly reported Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, and Working Memory factors. The SC factor consisted of the Picture Arrangement and Picture Completion subtests, and demonstrated small but significant correlations with disorganization and negative symptoms, as well as with an index of social functioning. Results provide support for the validity of the SC factor as a measure of social cognition in schizophrenia, and demonstrate that at least some aspects of social cognition represent separable cognitive domains in schizophrenia.

Olfactory identification and WAIS-R performance in deficit and nondeficit schizophrenia

Introduction: An expanding database supports the notion that the deficit syndrome (DS) is a discrete condition within schizophrenia and recent data argues that Smell Identification Deficits (SID) may have a primary relationship with its pathophysiology. If so, then the relationship of University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) scores with other neurocognitive measures in DS patients may point to the neural substrate of the deficit syndrome. Method: We examined the relationship of UPSIT scores and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) performance in 46 DSM-IV schizophrenia patients. The Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome (SDS) interview was used to subgroup the sample into 13 DS and 33 nondeficit syndrome (NDS) patients. Results: DS and NDS groups had similar mean ages, age of onset, and GAF scores, but DS patients had fewer years of education. DS and NDS patients also did not differ in full scale, verbal or performance IQ or in any WAIS-R subtest. However, UPSIT scores were significantly worse in the DS patients, most of whom met criteria for a clinically meaningful olfactory impairment. In DS patients, UPSIT scores were significantly correlated with Performance IQ, Block Design, and Object Assembly, all of which are associated with complex visual–motor organizational function thought to be mediated by parietal circuitry. UPSIT scores in NDS patients were significantly related with Vocabulary, Similarities, and Digit Symbol subtests, which are indicative of verbal functioning. Conclusion: These preliminary data support previous findings suggesting that in addition to frontal neuropsychological abnormalities, DS patients may have greater performance impairments on tasks associated with parietal functioning. Our findings furthermore suggest that the parietal circuitry may be a conspicuous substrate for impaired odor identification ability in these patients. The lesser abnormalities in UPSIT ability in NDS patients may be attributed to verbal ability. These data are preliminary and further investigations with larger samples are needed to support our findings.

The Swedish WAIS-R Factor Structure and Cognitive Profiles for Adults with Dyslexia

Factor analysis of the Swedish version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) on a group of 88 adult individuals with dyslexia showed a three-factor structure with a verbal comprehension (VC) factor, a perceptual organization (PO) factor, and a freedom from distractibility (FD) factor. The results of this factor analysis support earlier findings from factor analyses of adults in the original U.S. normative sample and in different clinical groups. The profile of scores for the sample of individuals with dyslexia showed the expected pattern, with PO highest and FD lowest. The predicted pattern was also observed using Bannatyne's recategorization of WAIS-R subtests. As has been true for other typical and exceptional samples, women scored significantly higher than men on the Digit Symbol subtest. Related to this gender difference, Digit Symbol scores proved to be sensitive to problems associated with dyslexia only for men with dyslexia. Also, education level was shown to be related to verbal (V)-performance (P) IQ discrepancy, with larger P > V differences observed for participants with fewer years of formal schooling. Regardless of these gender and education differences, the characteristic factor score and Bannatyne patterns were identified for both men and women and for three different subsamples categorized by educational level.

Do patients with acute medical conditions have the capacity to give informed consent for emergency medicine research?

Because of stress and illness, conscious emergency medicine (EM) patients may be temporarily cognitively impaired and thus incapable of participating in the informed consent process for acute care research. This pilot study sought to assess the mental capacity of ED patients during their evaluation and treatment for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). A prospective observational design at a university tertiary referral center. EM patients with AMI from November 1996 to February 1997 were enrolled. While usual care was delivered, patients were administered three subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) test. Subtest scaled scores range from 1 to 19, with abnormal being less than 5. Demographic, historical, and environmental parameters were recorded. Patients assessed how serious they perceived their conditions; and rated their degrees of pain, nausea, breathlessness, and anxiety on 10-cm visual analog scales (VASs). Testing was repeated prior to hospital discharge. Twenty-five patients were enrolled. Of these, two (8%) were suspected by their emergency physicians to have insufficient capacity to give informed consent. However, five (20%) scored less than 5 on all of the WAIS-R subtests (kappa = 0.5) and eight (32%) scored less than 5 on at least one of the subtests (kappa = 0.3). The initial median Digit Span, Comprehension, and Similarities subtest scores were 7, 5, and 6. By discharge, these improved to 8, 7, and 8, respectively. This pilot study suggests that some patients with AMI may have difficulty processing information necessary to give informed consent for acute care research. Routine clinical evaluation may not detect this cognitive defect.

PASAT and Components of WAIS-R Performance: Convergent and Discriminant Validity

The Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT) (Gronwall, 1977), a full length Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS-R) (Wechsler,1981), and the National Adult Reading Test (NART) (Nelson, 1982) were completed by a sample of 152 healthy participants. Principal components analysis revealed that PASAT's loading on general intelligence (g) was substantial (.72) and exceeded that of many WAIS-R subtests. Following rotation, PASAT loaded highly (.75) on the WAIS-R attention/concentration factor. Evaluation of nested confirmatory factor analytic models confirmed that, although PASAT is not independent of general intellectual ability, it still loaded significantly on attention/concentration (.44) when it was permitted to load simultaneously on g. Conventional normative data were provided for three age bands. In addition, regression equations were built to permit a quantitative comparison of individuals' obtained PASAT scores with their estimated premorbid PASAT scores (using NART and age as predictors) and with scores predicted from their current general level of intellectual ability (using WAIS-R IQ and age as predictors). Both these sets of predictorvariables accounted forhighly significant proportions of PASAT variance; Multiple R was .52 for the former and .66 for the latter.

Detection of Incomplete Effort on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised: A Cross-Validation

This study determined whether the Vocabulary-Digit Span difference score and a discriminant function based on subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) developed by Mittenberg et al. (1995) could differentiate patients with moderate and severe traumatic brain injuries (n = 50) from persons with financially compensable mild head injuries who were giving incomplete effort (n = 50). Employing modified cutoff scores, the discriminant function and Vocabulary-Digit Span difference score accurately classified 90% and 79% of the cases, respectively. Persons with traumatic brain injuries may produce WAIS-R subtest patterns that can be differentiated from individuals showing incomplete effort. These WAIS-R algorithms appear useful in making that distinction.

Memory and intellectual deficits do not decline with age in schizophrenia

Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are reported to be more consistent with a static encephalopathy than a dementing disorder. This study investigates memory and intellectual decline in 62 chronic schizophrenic subjects using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS-R), the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test and the National Adult Reading Test (NART) in a cross-sectional study using five age cohorts (18–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59 and 60–69 years of age) and then by two cohorts (young: 18–39; older: 40–69). A second method of investigating intellectual decline was implemented by estimating the discrepancy score between WAIS-R (current IQ) and NART (premorbid IQ) for each subject. No significant differences were found in WAIS-R Full Scale, Verbal and Performance IQ and memory functioning across the five age cohorts (and when using two age groups). A significant difference in test scores was found using the Picture Completion and Digit Symbol subtests of the WAIS-R. The differences were not related to age or duration of illness. No significant difference in scores were evident in the remaining WAIS-R subtests. These results support previous findings that schizophrenia is more consistent with a static encephalopathy than a dementing disorder and that intellectual and memory function does not markedly decline with age.

Modal profiles for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised

Modal profile analysis was used to cluster Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised subtest and factor profiles in a sample of patients referred for neuropsychological evaluation. Results yielded five modal profiles for subtest profiles and four modal profiles for factor profiles. However, when a classification rule was used to assign subtest profiles to modal groups, the subtest modal profiles classified only 37% of the sample. When the same rule was used to assign factor profiles to modal groups, the factor modal profiles classified 100% of the sample. For both subtest profiles and factor profiles, the largest portion of profile variance (48.1% and 65.9%, respectively) was accounted for by differences in profile elevation. Differences in profile scatter accounted for 4.5% of the variance in subtest profiles, while profile scatter accounted for 8.9% of the variance in factor profiles. Discussion focuses on the coverage and uniqueness of the two typologies and on the component sources of information in WAIS-R profiles.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale‐Revised in the Evaluation of Anterior Temporal Lobectomy Candidates

We wished to (a) determine the ability of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) to discriminate between patients with epilepsy of left or right temporal lobe (LTLE, RTLE) origin and (b) examine the ability of Kaufman's (1990) WAIS-R short forms to estimate actual Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ). We administered the WAIS-R to 215 nonretarded, left hemisphere dominant patients with invasively verified epilepsy of unilateral TL origin without lesions demonstrated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (excluding mesial temporal sclerosis, MTS). LTLE (n = 106) and RTLE (n = 109) groups were compared on the WAIS-R subtests and summary IQ scores. Verbal-Performance IQ (VIQ-PIQ) discrepancies of various magnitudes, and Verbal Comprehension (VC) and Perceptual Organization (PO) scores derived by factor analysis. The LTLE group scored significantly lower on the Vocabulary subtest, and none of the other indexes reliably distinguished LTLE from RTLE patients. The Kaufman 2, 3, and 4 subtest short forms were significant predictors of FSIQ, with the 4 subtest short form having the highest correlation and lowest error of estimate.

The Effects of a Temporary Dysphoric Mood upon Selected WAIS-R Subtests

This study assessed the effect of a temporary dysphoric mood upon selected subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R). Male and female college students were assigned randomly to either an audiotape-induced dysphoria condition (n = 34) or a control condition (n = 34). Pretests of intelligence and mood revealed no differences between groups. Both groups were administered Arithmetic, Similarities, Block Design, and Object Assembly from the WAIS-R. Subjects in the temporary dysphoria condition scored significantly lower than did controls on Block Design and Object Assembly. Implications for everyday testing practices are discussed.

WAIS-R Scores as Predictors of Employment Success and Failure Among Adults with Learning Disabilities

The transition of adults with learning disabilities to successful employment is contingent upon numerous factors. Eighty-six adults (55 males and 31 females), 18 to 59 years old (mean age 26.7 years), with learning disabilities were evaluated clinically using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) (Wechsler, 1981) to determine the value of WAIS-R IQs and subtest scores in predicting successful employment. Significant relationships were identified between subjects' WAIS-R IQs and scaled scores and job success. Conclusions and recommendations were reported.

Guidelines for interpreting WAIS—R subtest scores.

Tables are provided that facilitate the clinical interpretation of individual Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) subtest scores. Confidence intervals were computed for each possible scaled score for each WAIS-R subtest. The confidence intervals are centered around estimated true scores and were calculated using the standard error terms for true scores. A system for converting scores into descriptive terms is also provided

Six clustering algorithms applied to the WAIS-R: the problem of dissimilar cluster results.

Clusterings of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised subtests were obtained from the application of six hierarchical clustering methods (N = 113). These sets of clusters were compared for similarities using the Rand index. The calculated indices suggested similarities of cluster group membership between the Complete Linkage and Centroid methods; Complete Linkage and Ward's methods; Centroid and Ward's methods; and Single Linkage and Average Linkage Between Groups methods. Cautious use of single clustering methods is implied, though the authors suggest some advantages of knowing specific similarities and differences. If between-method comparisons consistently reveal similar cluster membership, a choice could be made from those algorithms that tend to produce similar partitions, thereby enhancing cluster interpretation.

HyperCard administration of a block-design task

HyperCard (Atkinson, 1987) is a new development environment for the Macintosh that shows promise for use in psychological research and testing. In this paper, we discuss the development of HyperCard stackware with which a block-design task similar to that of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) can be administered. The reliability and validity of the computerized block-design task was evaluated by administering both the computerized task and the WAIS-R subtest to college undergraduates. Results indicated that the computerized task’s reliability compared favorably with that of the WAIS-R subtest. Validity coefficients were equivocal; although an elapsed-time measure showed moderate correlation between the tasks, the numbers of designs correctly completed in each condition were not significantly correlated.