A new look at the WMS-III: new research to guide clinical practice.

The Wechsler Memory Scale, Third Edition (WMS-III) was published in 1997 and marked an ambitious and substantial revision of the traditional memory scale. Since publication, however, clinical experience has led many practitioners to raise questions about the validity and clinical utility of the new subtests and new index scores. The impetus of this special issue was to address some of the questions with which clinicians have been struggling. The articles contained in this special issue present new empirical research on the WMS-III, and several include new methods and scoring techniques that go beyond what has been published in the WAIS-III-WMS-III Technical Manual (The Psychological Corporation, 1997, 2002). It is hoped that the new scores and techniques will prove useful in clinical practice and that this research will benefit future revisions of the Wechsler Memory Scale.