Ineffectiveness of an Italian NART-equivalent for the estimation of verbal learning ability in normal elderly

Comparison between current and premorbid memory ability may be of help when trying to make a timely diagnosis of cognitive decline in questionable dementia. In the present study, we evaluated the possibility of estimating episodic verbal memory scores at the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) from an irregular words reading task held to resist to deterioration, that is the Italian analogue of the NART, the TIB (Test d'Intelligenza Breve--brief intelligence test). A regression analysis was performed in a large sample of healthy elderly, using RAVLT scores as dependent variable and TIB score, MMSE score, age and education as predictors. We failed to find a relationship between the two tests that was strong enough for a reliable estimation of memory ability.