title: Can localised brain impairment be simulated on neuropsychological test profiles?
abstract: We asked 28 registered nurses with varying degrees of experience in working with neurological and neurosurgical patients to fake results on 10 neuropsychological tests in such a way as to be congruent with a history of trauma to the left fronto-temporal cortex. We compared these data to those obtained from 21 patients who had been referred with verified cerebral injury and who had a diagnosis of left fronto-temporal dysfunction. The overall hit rate of classification for the two groups was 85.7% and 89.8%, depending on the way in which test scores were combined. Results showed that a knowledgeable group of informed fakers had great difficulty reproducing the test performance of individuals with left fronto-temporal impairment.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008306:Malingering / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics