WME study guide
WME · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The WME is a memory assessment built around five scored domains: Auditory Memory and Visual Memory (25% each), Delayed Memory (20%), and the two smaller components, Visual Working Memory and Immediate Memory (15% each). The weighting tells you a lot about how to prepare: half of the score sits in the two modality domains, and delayed recall alone carries as much weight as either of the immediate or working-memory components. The WME study guide has 5 sections and about 2,397 words.
01Auditory Memory: Encoding, Interference, and Retrieval
Auditory Memory on the WME tests how well you encode, retain, and retrieve information delivered through the auditory channel: spoken word lists, short stories, digit strings, and paired associates. Because the material arrives as sound, the domain isolates memory from hearing by presenting at a comfortable level and testing recall after the sound has ended.
511 words, about 3 min02Visual Memory: Figures, Faces, and Spatial Arrays
Visual Memory on the WME tests memory for nonverbal, figural, and spatial material that is seen rather than heard: abstract designs, faces, spatial arrays, and complex figures. The stimulus is removed before recall, so the domain measures visual encoding, storage, and reproduction or recognition, not perceptual matching alone.
463 words, about 2 min03Visual Working Memory: Capacity, Binding, and Updating
Visual Working Memory on the WME tests active maintenance and manipulation of visual information over seconds. It is not long-term visual memory and not passive short-term storage: tasks such as spatial span, change detection, n-back, feature binding, and updating require you to hold information while attention is occupied or while the content is transformed.
494 words, about 2 min04Immediate Memory: Attention, Span, and Serial Order
Immediate Memory on the WME tests recall of material with no delay or a very brief unfilled delay. It reflects attention, encoding, and short-term storage rather than consolidation.
457 words, about 2 min05Delayed Memory: Consolidation, Storage, and Retrieval
Delayed Memory on the WME tests retention after an interval, usually 20 to 30 minutes filled with unrelated activity. It targets consolidation, storage, and retrieval rather than initial encoding.
472 words, about 2 min