Reliable Digit Span (RDS) is a heavily researched symptom validity test with a recent literature review yielding more than 20 studies ranging in dates from 1994 to 2011. Unfortunately, limitations within some of the research minimize clinical generalizability. This systematic review and cross-validation study was conducted to address these…

Clinicians can use the base rates of low scores in healthy people to reduce the likelihood of misdiagnosing cognitive impairment. In the present study, base rates were developed for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) and Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) using 900 healthy adults and validated on 28 patients…

This two-part study sought to determine the equivalence of the California Verbal Learning Tests (CVLT-1 and CVLT-2) in the detection of malingering in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and chronic pain. Part 1 compared a variety of scores from the two versions in carefully matched patient groups. Part 2 used criterion groups (known-groups) methodology…

The latent structure of the California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition (CVLT-II) was examined in a clinical sample of 223 persons with traumatic brain injury that had been screened to remove individuals with complicating premorbid (e.g., psychiatric) or comorbid (e.g., financial compensation seeking) histories. Analyses incorporated the…

A known-groups design was used to determine the classification accuracy of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III) variables in detecting malingered neurocognitive dysfunction (MND) in traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBI patients were classified into the following groups: (a) mild TBI not-MND (n = 26), (b) mild TBI MND (n = 31), and (c)…

Assessing effort level during neuropsychological evaluations is critical to support the accuracy of cognitive test scores. Many instruments are designed to measure effort, yet they are not routinely administered in neuropsychological assessments. The Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) and the Word Memory Test (WMT) are commonly administered symptom…

This study examined the sensitivity and false-positive error rate of reliable digit span (RDS) and the WAIS-III Digit Span (DS) scaled score in persons alleging toxic exposure and determined whether error rates differed from published rates in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and chronic pain (CP). Data were obtained from the files of 123 persons…

The present study used well-defined traumatic brain injury (TBI) and mixed neurological (other than TBI) and psychiatric samples to examine the specificity and sensitivity to Malingered Neurocognitive Dysfunction (MND) of four individual California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) variables and eight composite CVLT malingering indicators. Participants…

The Wechsler Memory Scale--Revised (D. Wechsler, 1987) and the Memory Assessment Scales (J. Williams, 1991) were administered to 30 head-injury patients, and results were compared across four dimensions of memory. Results suggest that these scales measure different abilities and are not comparable tests. (SLD)

The Reliable Digits (RD) method of detecting malingering developed by M. Greiffenstein, J. Baker, and T. Gola (1994) was studied with 47 mild brain injury litigating and 49 mild brain injury nonlitigating participants. Results support the previous finding that the validity of each of the specific neuropsychological tests for brain injury should be…

Using the Recognition Memory Test, Digit Span subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised, and the Knox Cube Test as markers for malingered memory deficits was studied with 100 university students, federal inmates, and patients with head injuries. Malingerers performed more poorly than injured patients on all three tests. (SLD)

Twenty-two children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were compared to a matched sample of neurologically normal children and adolescents on several measures of cognitive processing. Results are consistent with the literature demonstrating poor performance on measures of attention and executive functioning among children who have…

The criterion validity of the factor index scores of the third edition of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III) was evaluated in a sample of 88 children with traumatic head injury. Only the Perceptual Organization and Processing Speed scores demonstrated acceptable sensitivity to injury severity for evaluation use. (SLD)

The influence of neurological and demographic variables on neuropsychological test performance was examined in 100 9- to 16-year-old children with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Regression analyses were conducted to determine the relative contributions of coma, neuroimaging findings, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender to variance in…

The present study determined specificity and sensitivity to malingered neurocognitive dysfunction (MND) in traumatic brain injury (TBI) for several Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Digit Span scores. TBI patients (n = 344) were categorized into one of five groups: no incentive, incentive only, suspect, probable MND, and definite MND.…