Demographically Corrected Norms for the California Verbal Learning Test

Abstract

The California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) is designed to quantify components of verbal learning, retention and retrieval. The present study used multiple regression analyses to correct for demographic characteristics on CVLT performance measures. There were 906 subjects, of whom 549 were Caucasians (61%) and 357 were African Americans (39%). Age, education, ethnicity, and gender were found to be significant predictors of performance on several CVLT indices, including Total Words Recalled, Trial 1, Trial 5, List B, Short Delay Free Recall (SDFR), and Long Delay Free Recall (LDFR). Demographically corrected T-scores were calculated for a base sample of 672 subjects and cross-validated on 234 separate subjects. Tables and regression equations are offered to convert raw scores into T-scores corrected for age, gender, education, and ethnicity. Demographically corrected Recognition Discriminability cutoff scores were calculated for age and education levels. In order to provide some indices of important memory processes, we also computed indices of retrieval, Short-Delay forgetting and Long-Delay forgetting and present normative information for them.

Evaluation of the Consonant Vowel Consonant (CVC) Test as an Assessment and Screening Instrument for Mild Cognitive Impairment

“…In general, the higher the education the more words were recalled. Similar results have been reported for word recall tasks (Donders, 2008;Messinis, Tsakona, Malefaki, & Papathanasopoulos, 2007;Norman, Evans, Miller, & Heaton, 2000;Teruya, Ortiz, & Minett, 2009).…”

Neuropsychological impairment in racial/ethnic minorities with HIV infection and low literacy levels: Effects of education and reading level in participant characterization

“…It has also led to studying variables that are proxies for ethnicity but are more precisely related to culture, education, and access. Comparing the performance of racial0 ethnic minorities to demographically similar groups has led to decreases in misclassification rates (Lucas et al, 1998;Norman et al, 2000;Heaton et al, 2001;Patton et al, 2003), which is a primary benefit of norms that account for ethnicity (Manly, 2005).…”

A Growth Curve Model of Learning Acquisition among Cognitively Normal Older Adults

“…A number of studies have reported a significant positive relationship between years of education and performance on cognitive measures including word recall tasks (e.g., Anstey & Christensen, 2000) with those individuals with more years of education performing better on measures of cognition than those with less education. Two studies have reported found a significant positive association between years of education and recall performance on the AVLT (Query & Megran, 1983;Uchiyama et al, 1995; see also Norman et al, 2000). Prior studies have not examined the extent to which health is associated with initial recall or growth; however, various indices of health and disease are associated with memory performance (Hultsch, Hammer, & Small, 1993;Verhaeghen, Marcoen, & Goossens, 1992).…”

“…In addition, gender has been associated with the magnitude of learning gains over five trials of the CVLT, with females exhibiting greater gains than males (Lamar et al, 2003). Norman, Evans, Miller, and Heaton (2000) found differences in the CVLT between African American and white older adults in initial recall and overall performance (see also Uchiyama et al, 1995). A number of studies have reported a significant positive relationship between years of education and performance on cognitive measures including word recall tasks (e.g., Anstey & Christensen, 2000) with those individuals with more years of education performing better on measures of cognition than those with less education.…”