The Doors and People Memory Test: Validation of norms and some new correction formulae

Objectives. To validate the normative data on the Doors and People Memory T est (D&P) using a new sample of normal participants, and to investigate the relationship between D&P performance and general intellectual level. Design. 281 normal participants (16-75 years), subdivided into 10-year age bands, were tested on the D&P and the National Adult Reading Test (NART). Method. Each participant's raw scores on the D&P were converted into scaled scores, and scaled memory 'indices' were derived using the test manual. St epwise multi-linear regression was used to predict the indices using age an d NART error score as predictor variables. For each participant the discrep ancy between the predicted and obtained values of each index was converted into a z score using the SD of the discrepancies from the whole sample. Results. The distributions of raw and scaled scores on the D&P were similar to those of the original standardization sample. The Visual-Verbal and Rec all-Recognition Discrepancy indices had smaller dispersions in the present sample than in the original sample. None of the indices was significantly r elated to age. The Total Memory, Combined Visual Memory, Combined Verbal Me mory, and Overall Forgetting indices were significantly correlated with NAR T error score. Conclusions. The present data constitute a cross-validation of the normativ e data presented in the D&P test manual. Two points of dissimilarity are no ted: (i) cutting scores derived for the Visual-Verbal and Recall-Recognitio n indices based on the test manual norms may be unduly conservative; and (i i) the relationship between some of the DBP indices and NART error score ma y lead to systematic errors in interpreting the scaled scores derived from the manual. 'Correction formulae' based on the regression equations derived from the present sample are provided.