Psychometric Properties of the Persian Word Pairs Task for Declarative Memory Assessment

According to the declarative/procedural model, the semantic aspect of language depends on the brain structures responsible for declarative memory. The word pairs task is a common tool for evaluating declarative memory. The current study aimed to design a valid and reliable task for evaluating declarative memory in Persian children at learning and retention stages and to investigate its relationship with the semantic aspect of language.

A panel of experts agreed on the content validity of the proposed task.  The reliability of the task was determined using internal consistency and test-retest reliability. A total of 31 typically developing children aged 7-9 years of age participated in this study.

The content validity of all the 42 word pairs calculated as one. The test-retest reliability showed a correlation coefficient of .825 (P < 0.001). The task showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha 0.880). The results of correlation analysis showed no significant relationship between declarative memory and semantic aspect. The regression analysis, however, showed that the retention stage could explain 24.2% of the variation of semantic aspect.

It seems that the word pairs task has good validity and reliability for evaluating declarative memory. The task applied to evaluate the semantic aspect can be one of the potential causes for the lack of a relationship between semantic aspect and declarative memory. The participant score in the retention stage can be predicted concerning his/her performance at the semantic aspect.