Theses and Dissertations
Date of Award
2015
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Psychology (PhD)
Department
Center for Psychological Studies
First Advisor
Charles Golden
Second Advisor
Stephen Russo
Third Advisor
Ryan Black
Keywords
Executive Function, Memory, Wechsler Memory Scale, WMS-IV
Abstract
While memory is the faculty that affords us learning, adaptation and development, it is our executive function that oversees, manages and organizes these abilities. Still, there is limited research on the interaction between memory and executive function. The present study investigated this relationship through Principal Components Analysis. Performances on accepted measures of memory and executive function were evaluated in an adult clinical sample. Components were retained using three criteria: a predetermined four-component structure, eigenvalues exceeding a value of one, and parallel analysis. Results demonstrated that a four-component model most accurately represented the data. Analyses also revealed that measures of immediate and delayed memory did not uniquely assess memory but instead loaded onto components associated with visual and verbal processing. The findings were shown to be in support of the brain working in an integrated, systematic manner in which abilities hierarchically ascend from arousal to tertiary function. Consequently, several accepted measures of memory and executive function failed to measure cognitive capacity unique from visual and verbal processing, placing their construct validity and efficacy in question.
NSUWorks Citation
Tourgeman, I.
(2015). Exploration of the Wechsler Memory Scale Fourth Edition and Measures of Executive Function Combined Components Model. .
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_stuetd/86