Do Administration Instructions Alter Optimal Neuropsychological Test Performance? Data From Healthy Volunteers

Abstract

The degree to which patients should be prompted to give their best effort has not been adequately addressed in the literature, nor has the issue of the extent to which they should be informed that measures of effort will be included in the assessment battery. Three groups of undergraduates were given three different instructional sets prior to completing a neuropsychological evaluation. The instructions provided different levels of motivation to perform optimally as well as possible warning regarding the detection of poor effort. The three groups did not differ in performance on any of the cognitive measures, although outlier performance resulted in lower mean performance on the Finger Tapping Test by the most clearly warned group. The results are discussed in terms of the potential of different instructional sets to affect motivation for optimal test performance.

Key words:

• measurement
• test administration
• test taking
• test validity
• testing

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are grateful to the following undergraduate research assistants who helped gather data: Loren Foster, Chris Pasztor, Dan Romanauski, Zachary Sample, Sarah Sherman, and Jennifer Summe.

Notes

Note. All means reflect raw scores. CVLT = California Verbal Learning Test; CVLT-T1 through CVLT-T5 = CVLT-2 Trial 1 Free Recall correct through Trial 5 Free Recall; CVLT-1 to 5 Total = CVLT-2 sum of correct recall across Trials 1 through 5; CVLT-B = CVLT-2 List B Free Recall correct; CVLT-REC = CVLT-2 Long-Delay Recognition (hits); CVLTFC = CVLT-2 Forced-Choice Recognition; WRAT-3 = Wide Range Achievement Test-Third Edition; COWAT = Controlled Oral Word Association Test; SDMT = Symbol–Digit Modalities Test; LDFR = Long-Delay Free Recall; SDFR = Short-Delay Free Recall; LDCR = Long-Delay Cued Recall; SDCR = Short-Delay Cued Recall.

^ab Row means with the same letters are not significantly different at alpha < .05.

CVLT-REC = CVLT-2 Long-Delay Recognition (Hits); CVLTFC = CVLT-2 Forced-Choice Recognition; RDS = Reliable Digit Span; FTT = Finger Tapping Total.