WAIS DIGIT SPAN, DIGIT SYMBOL, AND VOCABULARY PERFORMANCE AS A FUNCTION OF PRIOR EXPERIENCES OF SUCCESS AND FAILURE.

RELATIVELY IMPAIRED PERFORMANCE ON THE WAIS DIGIT SPAN SUBTEST IS FREQUENTLY INTERPRETED AS REFLECTING ANXIETY. RECENT RESEARCH HAS ALSO INDICATED THAT INTELLIGENCE TEST PERFORMANCE MAY BE INFLUENCED BY CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE TESTING SITUATION AND RELATIONSHIP. IT WAS THEREFORE THOUGHT THAT THE CLINICAL INTERPRETATION OF DIGIT SPAN WOULD BE ENHANCED BY AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF NATURAL EVALUATIVE EXPERIENCES INHERENT IN THE CONVENTIONAL TESTING SITUATION. A STUDY ASSESSED THE DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF PRIOR EXPERIENCES OF SUCCESS VS. FAILURE ON THE SUBSEQUENTLY ADMINISTERED DIGIT SPAN, DIGIT SYMBOL, AND VOCABULARY SUBTESTS. FAILURE EXPERIENCE LED TO AN ELEVATION IN SUBSEQUENT PERFORMANCE ON BOTH DIGIT SPAN AND DIGIT SYMBOL COMPARED TO THE EFFECT OF SUCCESS, WHILE VOCABULARY APPEARED TO BE UNAFFECTED. SS WERE 43 FEMALE UNDERGRADUATES. (24 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)