The Structure of the Wechsler Memory Scale and its Relationship to ‘Brain Damage’

Abstract

The paper investigated the factor structure of the Wechsler Memory Scale using a sample of 250 patients referred for cognitive assessment to a department of clinical psychology. Three significant factors were found: (i) the learning and immediate recall of complex novel information—Logical Memory, Visual Reproduction and Associate Learning, (ii) attention and concentration—Mental Control and Digit Span, and (iii) orientation and recall of long‐established verbal information—Information and Orientation. The three factors significantly intercorrelated and were highly saturated with intelligence, as measured by the WAIS. The verbal‐performance discrepancy on the WAIS was independent of the general level of intellectual and memory functioning. Factor scores were calculated for the three factors and patients with different types of organic pathology (dementias, head injuries and ‘others’) were compared with patients for whom no such pathology had been confirmed by neurological or neurosurgical techniques. The general conclusion was that the more diffuse the involvement of brain tissue the greater the memory disturbance, as measured by the Wechsler Memory Scale. Some definite organic lesions of the brain, however, produced no measurable memory deficit. The evidence does not support a unitary view of brain damage and its cognitive effects.

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