Rey's verbal learning test: Normative data for 1855 healthy participants aged 24–81 years and the influence of age, sex, education, and mode of presentation

TLDR

The Verbal Learning Test (VLT) assesses declarative memory, but normative data have been difficult to establish due to inconsistent administration. This study aimed to collect normative VLT data from 1,855 healthy adults aged 24–81, comparing verbal and visual word presentation. The authors administered the VLT to 1,855 participants, presenting the word list either auditorily or visually. VLT scores declined with age, with younger and older adults differing quantitatively; females and more educated participants performed better overall, and auditory presentation improved early recall while visual presentation enhanced later learning trials.

Abstract

The Verbal Learning Test (VLT; Rey, 1958) evaluates the declarative memory. Despite its extensive use, it has been difficult to establish normative data because test administration has not been uniform. The purpose of the present study was to gather normative data for the VLT for a large number (N = 1855) of healthy participants aged 24-81 years, using a procedure in which the words to be learned were presented either verbally or visually. The results showed that VLT performance decreased in an age-dependent manner from an early age. The learning capacity of younger versus older adults differed quantitatively rather than qualitatively. Females and higher educated participants outperformed males and lower educated participants over the entire age range tested. Presentation mode affected VLT performance differently: auditory presentation resulted in a better recall on Trial 1 (a short-term or working memory measure), whereas visual presentation yielded a better performance on Trial 3, Trial 4, and Delta (a learning measure).