The D-KEFS Trails as performance validity tests.

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the potential of the Delis-Kaplan Executive System (D-KEFS) version of the Trail Making Test (TMT) as a performance validity test (PVT). Data were collected from a mixed clinical sample of 157 consecutively referred outpatients (49% male, MAge = 47.1, MEducation = 13.6) undergoing neuropsychological assessment at an academic medical center in the northeastern United States. Sensitivity and specificity of the D-KEFS Trails to psychometrically defined invalid responding was calculated across various cutoffs and criterion PVTs. The D-KEFS Trails produced classification accuracy comparable to the original version of the TMT, hovering around the "Larrabee limit" (.50 sensitivity at .90 specificity). Different cutoffs (age-corrected scaled score ≤5 on Trails 1-3, ≤4 on Trails 4 and ≤8 on Trails 5) were needed to achieve the same classification accuracy across the five trials. Combining multiple cutoffs improved the signal detection performance. The study provides preliminary evidence of the utility of D-KEFS Trails as a PVT. Embedded PVTs are valuable, because they make a multivariate approach to validity assessment feasible. Combining validity indicators is superior to relying on single cutoffs. (PsycINFO Database Record

Flipping the Script: Measuring Both Performance Validity and Cognitive Ability with the Forced Choice Recognition Trial of the RCFT

“…In contrast, there was no difference between these two groups for BR Fail on the WCT. These findings are consistent with previous reports ( Abeare, Erdodi, et al., 2020 ; Erdodi, Hurtubise, et al., 2018 ), and they challenge the prominence of the examinees’ external incentive status in diagnostic models for malingering (APA, 2013; Erdodi et al., 2018 ; Slick et al., 1999 ). While the new RCFT FCR trial was more sensitive to the effect of incentive status than the RCFT Yes/No Recognition trial ( Figure 1 ), it must be noted that incentive to appear impaired and elevated risk of genuine neuropsychological deficits were conflated in our clinical sample.…”

“…In the context of a 9% failure rate on the TOMM-1 and a 1.2–2.4% failure rate on the RCFT recognition trials, these high WCT failure rates seem to be an isolated anomaly that serve as an important reminder that external incentives fail to explain a significant amount of variance in PVT failures. In fact, since normative data for well-respected tests have not been screened for non-credible responding, instances of invalid performance can even shift normative data toward impairment and inflate error variance in clinical decision making ( Erdodi, Hurtubise, et al., 2018 ).…”

Factor-Analytic Evidence for the Complexity of the Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS)

“…The D-KEFS authors intended to provide a means of testing hypotheses concerning alternative processes involved in performance of single tests. Another issue concerns performance validity (Erdodi et al, 2018) and effort (Green, Rohling, Lees-Haley, & Allen, 2001) as determinants of test performance. These factors can add to the complexity of what is measured by and complex test.…”

Carotid Revascularization and Its Effect on Cognitive Function: A Prospective Nonrandomized Multicenter Clinical Study

“…Patients underwent neuropsychological testing using Trail Making A, 9 Trail Making B, 8 FAS, 11 and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test 10 to assess attention, executive functioning, verbal fluency, and memory, respectively. Testing was administered preoperatively and 1-(n = 67), 6-(n = 46), and 12-(n = 45) months postoperatively.…”