The American Liner New York and Anna Thompson: an investigation of interference effects on the Wechsler Memory Scale

The role of proactive interference in verbal memory was examined in 154 normal and brain-damaged subjects. Subjects were matched on age, sex, education, presence or absence of brain damage, and administered the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) Stories in standard order (A+B) or reverse order (B+A). Both normal and brain-damaged subjects recalled fewer details from Story B than Story A regardless of order of administration. We conclude that Story B from the WMS is inherently a more difficult passage to recall than Story A. The recall of fewer Story B items relative to Story A is expected and not due to proactive interference.