Further investigation of traumatic brain injury versus insufficient effortwith the California Verbal Learning Test

The present study replicates and attemps to extend previous research using the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) to identify malingerers. Documen ted moderate and severe traumatic brain injury patients (n = 42) were compa red with clinical malingerers identified by criteria other than the CVLT (n = 21), malingering simulators instructed in realistic potential injury seq uelae (n = 25), and normal controls (n = 21). Results of discriminant funct ion analyses for high and low base rates are reported, showing similar resu lts. Also, the four individual cutoff scores (Recognition Hits, Discriminab ility, Total Words Recalled, Long Delay Cued Recall) from Millis, Putnam, A dams, and Ricker (1995) were evaluated with these groups. Similar specifici ty rates were found with all four variables, while sensitivity rates were s lightly lower than that of Millis. Adjusted cutoffs derived from the new sa mples resulted in slightly improved overall classification rates. Overall, present findings support those of Millis et al. (1995) with regard to the u se of the CVLT in detection of malingering. Exploratory use of Total Instru ctions and Recognition Hits Compared to Long Delay Free Recall was not prom ising. Simulators were found to be fairly comparable in performance to actu al malingerers, affirming their use in malingering research. (C) 2000 Natio nal Academy of Neuropsychology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.