Immediate and delayed prose recall among normal and demented adults.

The Logical Memory subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale (Form I) was administered as part of a battery of tests to 64 subjects without dementia and 51 with very mild dementia. The demented group's immediate and delayed recall was significantly impaired relative to the control group. Immediate and delayed scores were highly correlated in both groups. Hierarchical multiple-regression analyses revealed that dementia classification did not significantly predict delayed recall performance above and beyond immediate recall performance. This suggests that, in its early stages, dementia primarily affects the encoding of prose material.