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PI Brief Update

Symptom Validity (Effort) Testing in Clinical Neuropsychology - Dr Tracey Ryan-Morgan, Talis Consulting Limited

18/09/12. Effort testing became central to neuropsychological assessments due to the proven inability of the experienced clinician to detect individuals exerting sub-optimal effort (McCarter, Walton, Brooks & Powell, 2009). A range of taxonomies have developed over time in relation to the concept of “effort”. Bush, Ruff, Troster, Barth, Koffler, Pliskin, Reynolds & Silver (2005, in their National Academy of Neuropsychology Position Paper) refer to the following definitions, which are adopted for the purposes of this paper:

    • symptom validity: the accuracy or truthfulness of the examinee's behavioural presentation (signs) self-reported symptoms (including their cause and course) or performance on neuropsychological measures.

    • response bias: an attempt to mislead the assessor through inaccurate or incomplete responses or effort...

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