C-41The Neuropsychological Application of the WAIS-IV Over the WAIS-III

Objective: The study aims to determine if the WAIS-IV is more useful at predicting performance on neuropsychological measures than the WAIS-III. Methods: The WAIS-III (n = 53) group averaged 36 years old (SD = 17.94) and 12.82 years of education (SD = 2.81), and was 59 percent Caucasian and 56% women. The WAIS-IV (n = 53) group averaged 34.28 years (SD = 12.99) and 13.20 years of education (SD = 2.02), and was 53 percent Caucasian and 70% women. Results: The regressions for age, education, and the WAIS-III subtests at the .01 level revealed that these variables explained a significant quantity of variance in performance on Trails A (R² = .75), Trails B (R² = .75), and Category (R² = .56). The regressions for age, education, and the WAIS-IV subtests was significant for Trails A (R² = .53), Trails B (R² = .44), and Category (R² = .47). WAIS-III subtests were not shown to significantly account for the variance in performance on the WCST, R² = .59. The same was true for the WAIS-IV for the WCST, R² = .34. The model containing age, education, and the subtests of the WAIS-III were significantly better than the WAIS-IV regression at predicting Trails B. Conclusions: The current study found that both versions of the WAIS were able to account for a significant amount of the variance in performance on Trails A, Trails B, and the Category Test. When multiple correlations were compared, the WAIS-III was better at predicting Trails B. The findings indicate that the WAIS-IV may not be a vast improvement in regard to neuropsychological utility over the WAIS-III.