CONVERGENT VALIDITY OF THE FREE AND CUED SELECTIVE REMINDING TEST WITH IMMEDIATE RECALL IN HEALTHY OLDER POPULATION

The Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test with Immediate Recall (FCSRT-IR) is a memory test which is able to determinate the cause of the worse performance in memory tests whether it is caused by problems with consolidation or nonfunctional strategy for storage or retrieval. In comparison with other tests, FCSRT-IR contains total recall score which means free recall and cued recall. The goal of this contribution is to confirm the convergent validity of this test in older healthy population. The sample of older healthy persons (N=362; age M=73.5; SD=8.6; years of schooling M=13.1; SD=3.5) was assessed with the neuropsychological battery in National Normative Study of Cognitive Determinants of Healthy Aging. This battery contained memory tests - FCSRT-IR and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). The performances in these methods were compared using Spearman's correlation coefficient. Using Spearman's correlation coefficient we found a moderate correlation in free recall in FCSRT-IR and RAVLT and weak correlation in total recall in FCSRT-IR and free recall in RAVLT. The moderate correlation (r=0.49) in free recall in both tests shows that these methods assess the similar memory processes and FCSRT-IR has the convergent validity in this measure. The weak correlation (r=0.29) in total recall FCSRT-IR and free recall RAVLT shows the divergent validity of FCSRT-IR because in RAVLT we do not assess the cued recall. The worse performance in total recall refers to problems in consolidation while the worse performance in free recall can be caused by nonfunctional strategy for storage or retrieval. Based on the results in RAVLT, we cannot differentiate between the sources of memory impairment; using FCSRT-IR we can.