Detection of Malingered Neurocognitive Dysfunction Among Patients with Acquired Brain Injuries

Abstract

The Word Memory Test (WMT) is one of the most sensitive forced-choice tests available designed to evaluate negative response bias (NRB). Presently there is no valid verbal test designed to evaluate NRB for Hebrew-speaking patients. The aims of the present study were to validate the response bias measures of the WMT among Hebrew-speaking patients with acquired brain injuries and to reveal the malingering base rate among Israeli patients involved in compensation-seeking. Participants were 112 patients. The Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) was used for convergent validity and injury related variables were used for concurrent validity. A translated version of the WMT had high split-half reliability. Regarding convergent validity, WMT effort measures had high positive correlations with the TOMM. Moreover, based on TOMM cutoff scores for classification, the WMT had reasonable classification rates. Regarding concurrent validity, multivariate logistic regression revealed that failure in the WMT was significantly predicted by normal brainscans and involvement in compensation-seeking behavior. The baserate of probable malingering was 34%. These findings emphasize the universality of the WMT in detecting NRB and establishing a malingered neurocognitive dysfunction baserate among Israeli patients involved in compensation-seeking.

Identifying Feigned Cognitive Impairment: Investigating the Utility of Diffusion Model Analyses

“…Each participant then individually performed the WMT's immediate recognition (IR) subtest, according to his or her group assignment (for a validation study of the WMT among Hebrew-speaking examinees with acquired brain injuries, see Hegedish & Hoofien, 2013). More specifically, each participant was requested to memorize a list of word pairs that were presented on a computer screen.…”

The Effects of Cognitive Load on Strategy Utilization in a Forced-Choice Recognition Memory Performance Validity Test

“…For each pair, they were requested to select the word which had appeared in the original list and were provided with feedback regarding the accuracy of their response. The DR subtest, identical to the IR subtest except for a change in foil words, was administered 30 min later (for an earlier study using the Hebrew version of the WMT, see Hegedish & Hoofien, 2013). Outcome measures in the current study were accuracy (% correct responses) and response time (RT Mean in ms) for each subtest.…”