Comparison of list B and list C of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test

The equivalence of list B and list C of the Rey Auditory Learning Test (AVLT) as interference trials was investigated. Participants were healthy adults recruited from undergraduate psychology courses at Louisiana State University. Thirty male and 30 female subjects participated in the study. Significant differences in recall and recognition performance were found between subjects who were administered list C versus list B as an interference list. Immediate recall for interference list B was significantly lower than for interference list C, and list A recognition performance was significantly lower when List B words were used as distracters. These results are consistent with findings that List B contains more low frequency words than list C. Low frequency words have been shown to produce lower recall and higher recognition performance relative to higher frequency words.