Efficacy of the full and abbreviated forms of the Portland Digit Recognition Test: vulnerability to coaching

The present study compared the efficacy of the abbreviated and the full scale PDRT in simulated malingerers and effortful controls. A total of 80 undergraduates were randomly assigned to normal effort, naïve simulators, informed simulators, and simulators with information and warning about malingering detection groups. Comparison shows abbreviated forms are superior to the full scale PDRT at detecting malingerers. The conservative abbreviated form detected 80% of the Naïve and Informed malingerers and 35% of the Warned. Warned Simulators were overall better at avoiding detection than Naïve or Informed Simulators.