Performance of older depressed patients on two cognitive malingering tests: False positive rates for the Rey 15-item Memorization and Dot Counting Tests

To our knowledge, no investigations have been undertaken to determine wheth er depression impacts performance on two commonly used tests to detect mali ngering of cognitive symptoms, the Rey 15-item Memorization Test and the Re y Dot Counting Test. This is a critical issue because of the high rate of d epressive symptoms in patients with neurological conditions. It was hypothe sized that depressed individuals, especially those with more severe depress ion, might be at risk for failing the tests, because these patients exhibit mild deficits in mental speed, visual perceptual/spatial skills, and visua l memory, abilities required for successful completion of the malingering t ests. However, examination of test performance in 64 older participants wit h major depression generally revealed very low false positive rates for mos t test scores, and severity of depression was unrelated to test scores. The se results add to accumulating data supporting the validity of these cognit ive malingering tests by documenting few false positive identifications.