The wechsler memory scale: Preliminary findings toward an australian standardisation

Abstract

The Wechsler Memory Scale is widely used by clinical psychologists in Australia in the assessment of memory functions in patients with suspected organic cerebral impairment. However, the Scale has never been normed on an Australian population, separate sub-test norms are available for only a limited age range, and individual psychologists have made their own adaptations of certain American idioms.Preliminary findings using Form I of the Scale with a sample of 500 subjects suffering from no known memory impairment raise doubts concerning the applicability of Wechsler's normative data to Australian subjects, both in respect of difficulty level and of the alleged absence of sex differences. Multivariate analysis of the data is reported and normative scales for each sub-test as well as total score.