Age reliably predicted performance of 120 volunteers, 20 to 84 yr. old, on the Memory-for-Designs test. Scoring employed both the Graham-Kendall and a modified scoring technique in which each of the 15 designs was rated within six error categories (reversal, distortion, omission, rotation, embellishment, perseveration). Inter-rater reliability of four raters indicated a marked scoring consistency and the error category scoring interacted with age, i.e., older persons (> 60 yr.) made more omission and distortion errors than younger persons (< 40 yr.) who committed proportionally more reversal errors. Concomitant performance on the WAIS Block Design accounted for only part of the age differences in errors. The error category scoring was more sensitive to age differences in visual memory than the usual Graham-Kendall scoring method. In addition, it provided much needed age norms.
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