Effects of Age, Education and Sex on Two Tests of Immediate Memory: A Study of Normal Subjects from 20 to 99 Years of Age

Abstract

Spatial span (Corsi's block-tapping test) and verbal span (Wechsler Digits Forward) were measured in 1354 normal subjects, aged from 20 to 99 yr., who were subdivided into seven age groups, into three groups according to education, and according to sex. Analysis of variance showed that the three main factors were significant for the spatial span test, while only age and education were significant for the verbal span test. The two spans examined held well up to the 60s, and only after this age did significant differences appear in the other age groups. On both tests there were significant differences between the groups divided according to education.