The malingering of multiple sclerosis and mild traumatic brain injury

In this investigation, neuropsychological testing was conducted with 69 college students that were instructed to malinger either multiple sclerosis (MS) or traumatic brain injury (TIB) or were non-malingering controls. The two malingering groups were divided into informed and non-informed groups. The informed groups received information concerning their respective condition, and the non-informed groups were asked simply to malinger. Generally, all malingering groups performed considerably below the levels of non-malingering controls on measures of attention, learning and memory, word fluency, abstract reasoning, visuoconstruction and manual dexterity. There appeared to be no difference in the manner in which subjects attempted to malinger MS as opposed to TBI. However, the severity of the portrayed deficit suggested by the test scores was disproportionate to the severity of the injury being requested. The pattern of deficit presented was quite global, with well below average performance demonstrated by all malingering groups across all domains.