title: The Warrington Recognition Memory Test for words as a measure of response bias: total score and response time cutoffs developed on "real world" credible and noncredible subjects.
abstract: Several studies have examined the usefulness of the Warrington Recognition Memory Test-Words as a measure to detect suspect effort, although samples have generally been small and/or comprised of simulators rather than "real world" credible and noncredible patients. The current study examined the Warrington Recognition Memory Test-Words total score and response time of "real world" noncredible patients (as determined by motive to feign, failure on > or =2 independent measures of response bias, low cognitive scores inconsistent with normal ADLs; n = 190) versus credible patients (as determined by no motive to feign, failure of < or =1 measure of response bias; n = 124) derived from an archival database of individuals from the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Outpatient Neuropsychology Service, and the private practice of the second author. Noncredible patients obtained significantly lower total scores and longer times to complete the task. A total correct cutoff of < or =42 was found to have excellent specificity (91.9%) and sensitivity (88.9%), whereas a time cutoff of > or =207'' was associated with 65.5% sensitivity at 90.7% specificity, and when the time cut-score was used in combination with the total score cutoff, an additional 5% of the noncredible participants were captured, raising overall sensitivity to 93.7% (at 87.1% specificity). Thus, the Warrington Recognition Memory Test-Words, although not originally created for the purposes of measuring suspect effort, appears to be an excellent measure for detecting response bias on neuropsychological testing.
authors.affiliation: Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kyle B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Boone
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Victor
authors.forename: Sarah D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Marion
authors.forename: Stacy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amano
authors.forename: Maria E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Cottingham
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Ziegler
authors.forename: Michelle A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Zeller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015982:Bias; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008306:Malingering / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013997:Time Factors; D014825:Vocabulary; D055815:Young Adult