Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the California Verbal Learning Test in Patients with Epilepsy: Relationship to Clinical and Neuropathological Markers of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Latent constructs involved in California Verbal Learning Test (D. C. Delis, J. H. Kramer, E. Kaplan, & B. A. Ober, 1987) performance were examined using confirmatory factor analysis in 388 epilepsy surgery candidates. Eight factor models were compared. A single-factor model was examined, along with 7 models accommodating constructs of auditory attention, inaccurate recall, and delayed recall in different combinations. The retained model consisted of 3 correlated factors: Auditory Attention, Verbal Learning, and Inaccurate Recall. Validity of this factor structure was examined in a subsample of patients with left and right temporal lobe epilepsy. All 3 factors were related to seizure focus and magnetic resonance imaging hippocampal volume. Only Verbal Learning was related to hippocampal neuropathology, supporting the distinction between learning and attention in the factor structure.