Psychometric Properties of the Persian Word Pairs Task to Evaluate Declarative Memory

Introduction: According to the declarative/procedural (DP) model, the semantic aspect of language depends on the brain structures responsible for declarative memory. The word pairs task is a common tool to evaluate declarative memory. The current study aimed to design a valid and reliable task to evaluate declarative memory in Persianspeaking children at the learning and retention stages and investigate its relationship with the semantic aspect of language. Methods: 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 participated in this study. Results: The content validity of all the 42-word pairs was calculated as one. The testretest reliability showed a correlation coefficient of 0.825 (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. However, the regression analysis showed that the retention stage can explain 24.2% of the variations in the semantic aspect. Conclusion: It seems that the word pairs task has good validity and reliability to evaluate declarative memory. The task applied to evaluate the semantic aspect can be one of the potential causes of the lack of a relationship between the semantic aspect and declarative memory. The participants’ scores in the retention stage can be predicted concerning their performance at the semantic aspect.