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Related Experiment Videos

Trail making test and malingering among substance abusers.

Arthur MacNeill Horton1, Charles Roberts

  • 1Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockwall II Building, Suite 840, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, USA. ahorton@samhsa.gov

The International Journal of Neuroscience
|March 26, 2003
PubMed
Summary

The Trail Making Test (TMT) may be valid for assessing cognitive function in substance abusers, as most participants did not show signs of malingering. However, further research is needed to confirm the sensitivity of current malingering detection methods.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuropsychology
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Psychiatry

Background:

  • The Trail Making Test (TMT) is a common tool for screening cognitive impairments.
  • A concern is that substance abusers may feign deficits (malinger) on the TMT.
  • Validated cutting scores exist to detect malingering.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the prevalence of malingering using established TMT cutting scores in a large sample of substance abusers.
  • To evaluate the validity of TMT performance in individuals undergoing substance abuse treatment.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from 7,689 substance abusers in treatment programs from the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS).
  • Applied previously validated cutting scores for malingering to TMT performance metrics (Part A, Part B, and B/A ratio).

Related Experiment Videos

  • Analyzed data from a mixed-race sample collected between 1991-1993 across 96 programs in 11 US cities.

    • Main Results:

    • A small percentage of substance abusers scored beyond the malingering cutoff points: 2.28% for Part A and 9.74% for the B/A ratio.
    • The majority of participants' TMT scores fell within normal ranges, suggesting valid effort.
    • No subjects exceeded the cutting score for TMT Part B alone.

    Conclusions:

    • Most substance abusers in treatment settings appear to provide valid effort on the TMT.
    • The findings suggest that TMT scores in this population may be reliable indicators of cognitive function.
    • Further investigation is recommended to determine if the applied cutoff scores are sufficiently sensitive to detect malingering.