Open AccessAssessment of feigned cognitive impairment in severe traumatic brain injury patients with the Forced‐choice Graphics Memory Test
Author(s) -
Liu Zilong,
Dong Juan,
Zhao Xiaohong,
Chen Xiaorui,
Lippa Sara M.,
Caroselli Jerome S.,
Fang Xiang
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
brain and behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 41
ISSN - 2162-3279
DOI - 10.1002/brb3.593
Subject(s) - malingering , traumatic brain injury , cognition , psychology , cognitive impairment , audiology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , physical therapy , medicine
The Forced‐choice Graphics Memory Test ( FGMT ) is a newly developed measure to assess feigned cognitive impairment. This study investigated the ability and reliability of FGMT for identification of malingering in patients with traumatic brain injury ( TBI ). Methods The FGMT was administered to 40 healthy volunteers instructed to respond validly (Healthy Control, H‐C), 40 healthy volunteers instructed to feign cognitive impairment (Healthy Malingering, H‐M), 40 severe TBI patients who responded validly ( TBI control, TBI ‐C), and 30 severe TBI patients who evidenced invalid performance ( TBI malingering, TBI ‐M). Results Both malingering groups (H‐M and TBI ‐M) performed much more poorly than the nonmalingering groups (H‐C and TBI ‐C). The FGMT overall total score, score on easy items, and score on hard items differed significantly across the four groups. The total score showed the highest classification accuracy in differentiating malingering from nonmalingering. A cutoff of less than 18 (total items) successfully identified 95% of TBI ‐C and 93.3% of TBI ‐M participants. The FGMT also demonstrated high test–retest reliability and internal consistency. FGMT scores were not affected by TBI patients' education, gender, age, or intelligence. Conclusion Our results suggest that the FGMT can be used as a fast and reliable tool for identification of feigned cognitive impairment in patients with TBI .