The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test [RAVLT; Rey, A. (1941). L'examen psychologique dans les cas d'encéphalopathie traumatique. Archives de Psychologie, 28, 21] is a commonly used neuropsychological measure that assesses verbal learning and memory. Normative data have been compiled [Schmidt, M. (1996). Rey Auditory and Verbal Learning Test: A handbook. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services]. When assessing an individual suspected of neurological dysfunction, useful comparisons include the extent that the patient deviates from healthy peers and also how closely the subject's performance matches those with known brain injury. This study provides the means and S.D.'s of 392 individuals with documented neurological dysfunction [closed head TBI (n=68), neoplasms (n=57), stroke (n=47), Dementia of the Alzheimer's type (n=158), and presurgical epilepsy left seizure focus (n=28), presurgical epilepsy right seizure focus (n=34)] and 122 patients with no known neurological dysfunction and psychiatric complaints. Patients were stratified into three age groups, 16-35, 36-59, and 60-88. Data were provided for trials I-V, List B, immediate recall, 30-min delayed recall, and recognition. Classification characteristics of the RAVLT using [Schmidt, M. (1996). Rey Auditory and Verbal Learning Test: A handbook. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services] meta-norms found the RAVLT to best distinguish patients suspected of Alzheimer's disease from the psychiatric comparison group.

The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS, Randolph, 1998) is likely to become a popular screening instrument for measuring cognitive functioning, particularly in elderly patients. As such, the present study attempted to extend the original normative data by reporting on RBANS performances in a group of 718 community dwelling older adults. Participants were recruited from an outpatient primary care setting, and were assessed for demographic, medical status, functional status, and quality of life information. Utilizing four empirically supported overlapping midpoint age ranges, individual subtest raw scores were converted to age-corrected scaled scores based on their position within a cumulative frequency distribution. These age-corrected scaled scores were also converted into education-corrected scaled scores using the same methodology across four education levels. Independent Index and Total scores were also calculated based on the data from this large elderly sample. These data may considerably advance the clinical utility of the RBANS by allowing clinicians to interpret individual subtests and make direct comparisons between subtests. Practitioners and researchers who elect to use the current normative data are encouraged to consider the similarities and differences between the present sample and their individual patients or research participants.

Lamotrigine produces significantly fewer untoward cognitive and behavioral effects compared to topiramate (TPM) at the dosages, titrations, and timeframes employed in this study. The dosages employed may not have been equivalent in efficacy. Future studies are needed to delineate the cognitive and behavioral effects of TPM at lower dosages.