Factor structure and clinical correlates of the 61-item Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS).

The objective of this study was to assess the factor structure and clinical correlates of a 61-item version of the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS), a self-report retrospective measure of childhood problems, experiences, and behavior used in ADHD assessment. Given the currently mostly widely used form of the WURS was derived via a criterion-keyed approach, the study aimed to use latent variable modeling of the 61-item WURS to potentially identify more and more homogeneous set of items reflecting current conceptualizations of ADHD symptoms. Exploratory structural equation modeling was used to generate factor scores which were then correlated with neuropsychological measures of intelligence and executive attention as well as a broad measure of personality and emotional functioning.

Utility of the Personality Assessment Inventory for Detecting Malingered ADHD in College Students.

Objective: The purpose of the current study is to examine the utility of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) for detecting feigned ADHD in college students.

Method: A sample of 238 undergraduate students was recruited and asked to simulate ADHD (ADHD simulators) or respond honestly (controls) on the PAI. Archival data (n = 541) from individuals diagnosed with clinical ADHD, no diagnosis, learning disorder, mood/anxiety, comorbid ADHD-mood/anxiety, or suspect effort were used.

"Why is this so hard?" A review of detection of malingered ADHD in college students.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to review studies that have investigated malingered ADHD in college students and offer recommendations for assessing effort in clinical evaluations of ADHD in college students.

Method: This article identified and summarized nineteen peer-reviewed, empirical studies published between 2002 and 2011 that investigated malingered ADHD in college students.

Results: Few of the measures examined proved useful for detecting malingered ADHD.

College students' conceptualizations of deficits involved in mild intellectual disability.

Precedential rulings in recent capital murder trials may, in some cases, leave it up to a jury to determine whether or not an individual meets criteria for an intellectual disability (ID) and should be spared from the death penalty. Despite the potential for misconceptions about ID to bias decisions, few empirical studies have examined the public's conceptualizations of individuals with ID. This study sought to examine 890 college students' conceptualizations of the deficits involved in mild ID.

Evaluation of embedded malingering indices in a non-litigating clinical sample using control, clinical, and derived groups.

Although recent findings have indicated that a portion of college students presenting for psychoeducational evaluations fail validity measures, methods for determining the validity of cognitive test results in psychoeducational evaluations remain under-studied. In light of this, data are needed to evaluate utility of validity indices in this population and to provide base rates for students meeting research criteria for malingering and to report the relationship between testing performance and the level of external incentive. The authors utilized archival data from: (i) a university psychological clinic (n = 986) and (ii) a university control sample (n = 182).

Development and validation of the stanford binet-5 rarely missed items-nonverbal index for the detection of malingered mental retardation.

Current research suggests that effort indices designed for the detection of malingered neurocognitive functioning do not have adequate sensitivity or specificity for use in cases where malingered mental retardation (MR) is the issue. Therefore, development and validation of reliable, objective measures for the detection of malingered MR have become imperative for both forensic and disability cases in recent years. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an embedded malingering index for the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition.

The relationships of working memory, secondary memory, and general fluid intelligence: working memory is special.

Recent efforts have been made to elucidate the commonly observed link between working memory and reasoning ability. The results have been inconsistent, with some work suggesting that the emphasis placed on retrieval from secondary memory by working memory tests is the driving force behind this association (Mogle, Lovett, Stawski, & Sliwinski, 2008), whereas other research suggests retrieval from secondary memory is only partly responsible for the observed link between working memory and reasoning (Unsworth & Engle, 2006, 2007). In the present study, we investigated the relationship between processing speed, working memory, secondary memory, primary memory, and fluid intelligence.

A Comparison of Laboratory and Clinical Working Memory Tests and Their Prediction of Fluid Intelligence.

The working memory (WM) construct is conceptualized similarly across domains of psychology, yet the methods used to measure WM function vary widely. The present study examined the relationship between WM measures used in the laboratory and those used in applied settings. A large sample of undergraduates completed three laboratory-based WM measures (operation span, listening span, and n-back), as well as the WM subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III and the Wechsler Memory Scale-III.

Assessment and rehabilitation of acquired visuospatial and proprioceptive deficits associated with visuospatial neglect.

Visuoperceptual disruptions are among the most common, and most debilitating, of the aftereffects following stroke or head injury. Visuospatial neglect in particular, which frequently occurs as a result of insult to the right cerebral hemisphere, has a variety of implications for patient welfare and outcome. And while there exists a great deal of useful information in the area of visual neglect, it is spread out amongst near-countless journal articles, book chapters, and workshop summaries.

The relation of depression and anxiety to measures of attention in young adults seeking psychoeducational evaluation.

The relation between mood and attentional functioning in young adults seeking psychoeducational evaluation has not been previously reported. This study examined the relation of self-reported depression and anxiety on attentional abilities among 161 young adults referred for psychoeducational evaluation. Depression and anxiety were measured with the Beck Depression Inventory-II and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, respectively.

The vulnerability to coaching across measures of effort.

Neuropsychologists are increasingly called upon to conduct evaluations with individuals involved in personal injury litigation. While the inclusion of measures of effort within a test battery may help clinicians determine whether a client has put forth full effort, attorney coaching may allow dishonest clients to circumvent these efforts. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which frequently used measures of effort are susceptible to coaching, as well as to explore and classify strategies undertaken by coached malingering simulators.

The Wender Utah Rating Scale: Adult ADHD diagnostic tool or personality index?

Objective: The Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) is used to retroactively assess ADHD symptoms. This study sought to determine whether the WURS actually functions as an index of dysfunctional personality traits.

Method: Five hundred twenty-two adult participants completed the WURS and at least one of the following measures: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III), Trails Making Test (Forms A and B), Conners' Continuous Performance Test, d2 Test of Attention, and the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI).

The conviction of delusional beliefs scale: reliability and validity.

This study reports on the development of a new measure of delusional belief conviction, the Conviction of Delusional Beliefs Scale (CDBS). Most of the current scales in use assess belief conviction with a single item and primarily reflect the cognitive aspects of conviction. The CDBS represents an improvement over existing scales in that it contains a larger number of test items that can be subjected to psychometric examination.

Information processing following mild head injury.

Research has shown that individuals who have sustained mild head injury demonstrate a slowed speed of processing that is exacerbated by fatigue/stress. We administered the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) at the beginning and at the end of a 4-h experimental protocol to determine whether fatigue or a stressor would result in poorer scores for individuals who had previously sustained mild head injury. A significant improvement was found between the first and second administration for both head-injured and control subjects, but difference scores revealed a significant between-groups difference for the first of the four trials, with the head-injured participants performing worse than controls.

Complex partial seizure symptom endorsement in individuals with a history of head injury.

Research has shown that subjects at risk for cerebral dysfunction endorse more complex partial seizure symptoms than low risk controls. It has been suggested that seizure activity be regarded as occurring on a continuum of neurobehavioral dysfunction, rather than as a discrete syndrome. The present study assessed seizure symptom endorsement in individuals reporting a positive history of head injury.

Are we honestly studying malingering? A profile and comparison of simulated and suspected malingerers.

Malingering research typically uses analog simulation design or differential prevalence design among "real" patients. Both have been criticized for methodological limitations in external and internal validity, respectively. Samples of simulated malingerers were compared to suspected malingerers to examine generalizability of analog findings.

Utility of the UFOV test with mild traumatic brain injury.

Driving skills are socially important, easily disrupted by brain injury, and potentially risky and difficult to evaluate afterward. The Useful Field of View test has seen successful use with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), but its use with mild TBI victims has not been examined. This study shows its ecological insensitivity among persons with mild TBI or no impairment and suggests its use be limited to more severely impaired persons.

Detecting simulated memory impairment: further validation of the Word Completion Memory Test (WCMT).

The Word Completion Memory Test (WCMT) was developed to detect sophisticated attempts at simulating memory impairment. The primary purpose of the present study was to provide additional validity and reliability information about the WCMT. Seventy-one participants were recruited for this study: 30 normal volunteers and 11 memory-disordered patients instructed to perform their best, and 30 normal volunteers instructed to fake memory impairment.

Informed consent in schizophrenia: the use of cues in the assessment of understanding.

The purpose of this study was to determine if providing cues could facilitate participant understanding for consent form information. Understanding scores were measured in a group of participants diagnosed with schizophrenia and a control group using cued recognition and uncued recall methods. When understanding was measured with uncued methods, persons with schizophrenia showed lower scores compared to the control group.

The role of attention in affect perception: an examination of Mirsky's four factor model of attention in chronic schizophrenia.

Attentional skills among people with schizophrenia may be related to deficits in affect perception. Such deficits can dramatically inhibit appropriate social functioning. We examined attention and affect perception in a sample of 65 people diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia.

Sensation seeking and risk behaviors in young adults with and without a history of head injury.

Research has demonstrated a relation between sensation seeking and risky behavior as well as an association between risky behavior and the occurrence of head injury. This study assessed sensation seeking in young adults with and without a history of head injury by administration of the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS), the Driver Risk Index (DRI), and the MacAndrews Scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). There was a significant difference between the groups for the Thrill and Adventure Seeking Subscale of the SSS and the MacAndrews Scale of the MMPI, with head-injured participants scoring higher.

Neuropsychological and emotional changes during simulated microgravity: effects of triiodothyronine alendronate, and testosterone.

Introduction: We present the results of a two-experiment study designed to evaluate the neurocognitive and psychological effects of six-degree head-down bedrest and pharmacologic interventions (3,5,3'-triiodothyronine; T3) implemented to enhance the muscle and bone atrophy associated with simulated microgravity. Subsequently, the effects of countermeasures (alendronate and testosterone) administered to retard or reverse these T3 plus bedrest enhanced atrophic changes, were evaluated. Each participant was tested weekly for 5 weeks during Bedrest or non-bedrest (Up) conditions with the Neurobehavioral Evaluation System 2 (NES2), the Symptom Check List 90 Revised (SCL-90-R), and the Coping Responses Inventory (CRI).

Partial cross-validation of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) General Memory-Attention/Concentration Malingering Index in a nonlitigating sample.

The Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) malingering indices proposed by Mittenberg, Azrin, Millsaps, and Heilbronner [Psychol Assess 5 (1993) 34.] were partially cross-validated in a sample of 200 nonlitigants. Nine diagnostic categories were examined, including participants with traumatic brain injury (TBI), brain tumor, stroke/vascular, senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type (SDAT), epilepsy, depression/anxiety, medical problems, and no diagnosis.

The Recognition Memory Test Examination of ethnic differences and norm validity.

The possibility of racial bias in neuropsychological test materials has received increasing attention in recent years. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether an own-race recognition bias would provide an advantage for Caucasian participants over African American participants on the Faces subtest of the Recognition Memory Test (RMT). Thirty Caucasian and 30 African American undergraduates completed the RMT, Shipley Institute of Living Scale (SILS), and Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT).

The role of temporal lobe and orbitofrontal cortices in olfactory memory function.

Differences in verbal and nonverbal olfactory identification and recognition were examined among three groups with brain impairment. A left cerebrovascular accident (LCVA) group, a right CVA (RCVA) group, and a traumatic brain injury (TBI) group were compared with two nonimpaired age-matched comparison groups on olfaction identification and recognition abilities. Odors were presented to the left and right nostrils, which maximized hemispheric differences in olfactory processing.