The Digit Span subtest of the Wechsler-Bellevue Scale has been considered diagnostically helpful by clinicians as an indicator of the presence of anxiety [4,7,8]. A usual procedure is to note discrepancies between the Digit Span score and that of the total Verbal Scale. Rapaport uses Vocabulary level as a comparison measure; "A Digit Span score much below the vocabulary level ... is mainly indicative of the presence of anxiety" [7, p. 193],At the same time, however, the digit score is not considered adequate in itself to identify the clinical group, anxiety-neurotic, for two reasons: (a) other clinical groups do poorly on this subtest [1 ; 11, p. 84] and (b) some anxiety neurotics do not show this differential decrement [2, 9]. One explanation of discrepant findings may lie in the unreliability of diagnostic judgments of manifest anxiety, particularly since manifestly anxious individuals may show other kinds of symptoms also.In order to investigate the hypothesis that anxiety results in a greater decrement in Digit Span scores than in Vocabulary scores it would appear reasonable to attempt to manipulate anxiety in normal subjects in a controlled situation and thus determine its effects. ProcedureIntroductory psychology students served as subjects. All had been previously tested on the Full Scale Wechsler-Bellevue. They were selected from a group of eighty-four on the basis of their Digit Span scores not deviating more than two points from their verbal mean.Four groups of eight 5s each were matched according to Verbal IQ. The four groups were paper was presented at the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, April 27, 1951.
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