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Malingering, coaching, and the serial position effect.

¹Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Porter Hall 200, Athens, OH 45701-2979, USA.

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology : the Official Journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists

|November 1, 2003

Summary

Malingerers show a suppressed primacy effect on word lists, unlike normal individuals or head-injured patients. This learning pattern may help detect deception in cognitive assessments.

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Area of Science:

Neuropsychology
Cognitive Psychology
Forensic Psychology

Background:

Normal performance on list-learning tasks involves recalling words from the beginning (primacy) and end (recency) of the list.
Patients with closed head injury typically exhibit this normal serial position effect.
Malingerers, however, may show a reduced primacy effect, recalling fewer words from the beginning of lists.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the serial position effect in differentiating between malingerers and individuals with normal effort or head injuries.
To examine performance patterns on the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) across different groups.

Main Methods:

The study compared performance on the AVLT across four groups: normal effort (n=34), naive malingerers (n=38), warned malingerers (n=33), and head-injured patients (n=29).
Performance was analyzed for both immediate learning trials and delayed recall, focusing on the serial position effect.

Main Results:

Both malingering groups exhibited significantly lower scores on the primacy portion of the word list during learning trials.
Normal effort and head-injured groups demonstrated typical serial position curves.
During delayed recall, normal and head-injured groups outperformed malingerers on middle and recency list portions.

Conclusions:

The serial position effect, particularly a suppressed primacy effect during learning trials, may serve as a valuable indicator when malingering is suspected.
This finding can aid in the detection of feigned cognitive deficits in clinical and forensic settings.

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