Detecting malingered memory deficits with the Recognition Memory Test

The purpose of the present study was to examine the efficacy of using the Recognition Memory Test (RMT) as a marker for malingered memory deficits. Data from 60 subjects, including 40 patients seen for neuropsychological evaluation and 20 university undergraduates, are reported. The university students were given experimental instructions to malinger. Students were compared to 20 memory-impaired and 20 memory-nonimpaired patients. The students who were instructed to malinger memory impairment performed more poorly than both groups of patients. Discriminant function analyses using the two scores derived from the RMT as predictors of group membership resulted in a 100% initial correct classification rate and a 96.7% correct classification rate on cross-validation.