Open AccessThe detection of simulated malingering using a computerized category classification test
Author(s) -
Hasker P. Davis,
John H. King,
Michelle R. Bloodworth,
Angela Spring,
Kelli J. Klebe
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
archives of clinical neuropsychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1873-5843
pISSN - 0887-6177
DOI - 10.1016/s0887-6177(97)88689-1
Subject(s) - malingering , psychology , amnesia , discriminant function analysis , memory test , audiology , test (biology) , linear discriminant analysis , set (abstract data type) , neuropsychological test , cognitive psychology , neuropsychology , developmental psychology , artificial intelligence , clinical psychology , psychiatry , statistics , computer science , cognition , medicine , mathematics , paleontology , biology , programming language
A category classification test was used to differentiate between normal student control participants, students instructed to malinger a memory deficit, and amnesic patients. Controls ( N = 44) and amnesic patients ( N = 10) were instructed to do their best, while simulators of malingering ( N = 43) were instructed to fake a memory deficit for credit and possible financial compensation. Participants studied a list of high distortions of a prototype dot pattern and were then asked to choose whether or not a new set of dot patterns (random patterns, high distortions, low distortions, and the prototype) belonged to the same category of dot patterns as studied. Malingerers performed significantly worse than normal controls and amnesic patients. A discriminant function analysis showed that the classification test can be used to correctly classify participants as simulated malingerers, controls, or amnesic patients significantly higher than chance. These results indicate that a category classification test can be used in the detection of simulated malingering and that some tests of implicit memory provide a potential supplement to standard forced choice tests in the detection of malingering.