Profound amnesia does not impair performance on 36-item digit memory test:A test of malingered memory

Global amnesia spares immediate span of attention while compromising retrie val after a delay filled with distractions. Accordingly, we hypothesized th at the Digit Memory Test (DMT) would classify persons with severe, disablin g amnesia as "nonmalingerers" better than malingering tests utilizing inter ference or recall paradigms. Fourteen cases with profound amnesia, includin g 2 persons with global amnesia. obtained scores of 100% correct on the 36- item DMT. However, the Rey 15-item Test of malingering and a multiple choic e delayed recognition memory test yielded false positive outcomes. We concl ude that the DMT has excellent specificity with respect to correctly identi fying persons with severe memory disorders due to neurological lesions by c orrectly classifying all as "nonmalingerers." (C) 2000 Academic Press.