Year of Award

2010

Document Type

Professional Paper

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Department or School/College

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Stuart Hall

Commitee Members

Daniel Denis, Annie Sondag

Keywords

assessment, effort, face validity, feedback, malingering, neuropsychology

Abstract

The assessment of client effort during neuropsychological evaluation is of high importance. Two experiments were designed to assess factors that may influence effort testing during neuropsychological assessment. Participants for both experiments were undergraduate students without a history of neurological conditions, mental health concerns, or current problems with alcohol or drug use. The goal of Experiment 1 was to determine whether the timing of a warning that some tests may detect faking would influence (the face validity of and performance on) effort and standard neuropsychological measures. All participants were administered the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) and Memory for Complex Pictures (MCP) as well as a brief battery composed of standard cognitive measures. Following administration of all tests, participants completed a questionnaire assessing their perception of the purpose of each measure. Results from Experiment 1 reveal that Early Warning CBIS endorsed lower face validity for effort measures than the other three groups. Performance on the effort measures was not significantly different across groups. Experiment 2 examined the role of visual feedback on individuals’ performance on effort testing. Results from Experiment 2 revealed that the use of visual feedback does not influence effort test performance.

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© Copyright 2010 Haley Gail Trontel