title: 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.
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).
authors.affiliation: Maastricht Brain and Behavior Institute, and European Graduate School of Neuroscience (EURON), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. W.vanderelst@NP.unimaas.nl
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Van der Elst
authors.forename: Martin P J
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: van Boxtel
authors.forename: Gerard J P
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: van Breukelen
authors.forename: Jelle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jolles
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014706:Verbal Learning