The Warrington Recognition Memory Test for Words as a Measure of Response Bias: Total Score and Response Time Cutoffs Developed on Real World Credible and Noncredible Subjects

Several researchers have examined the usefulness of the Warrington Recognition Memory Test for Words as a measure to detect suspect effort, although samples have generally been small and/or comprised of simulators rather than real world credible and noncredible patients. The aim of the current study was to examine the Warrington Recognition Memory Test – Words total score and response time of real world noncredible patients (as determined by motive to feign, failure on ≥ 2 independent measures of response bias, low cognitive scores inconsistent with normal ADLs; n = 190) versus credible patients (as determined by no motive to feign, failure of ≤ 1 measure of response bias; n = 124). An archival database from the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center Department of Psychiatry Outpatient Neuropsychology Service and the private practice of Kyle B. Boone, Ph.D. was utilized for the purposes of this study. Noncredible patients obtained significantly lower total scores and longer times to complete the task. A total correct cutoff of ≤ 42 was found to have excellent specificity (91.9%) and sensitivity (88.9%), while a time cut-off of ≥ 207 seconds was associated with 90.7% specificity and 65.5% specificity, and when the time cut-score was used in combination with the total score cutoff an additional 5% of the noncredible participants were captured, raising overall sensitivity to 93.7%.