An analysis of verbal-performance intelligence quotient discrepancies in the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale results of mentally subnormal hospital patients.

Verbal-Performance IQ discrepancies on the WAIS have been of much interest to clinical psychologists. They have been related, amongst other things, to different types of brain damage and in studies of the mentally subnormal, to successful adjustment to the outside world. This paper looks more closely at such discrepancies obtained by patients in a hospital for the mentally subnormal. These discrepancies are found to be both frequent related to Full Scale IQ. The pattern that emerges remains constant if scaled scores are considered or if the subtests are re-arranged according to Cohen's A and B factors. It is argued that these findings imply caution in the use of the discrepancy measure as a diagnostic or predictive indicator in this population.