The Performance of Individuals with Mental Retardation on Cognitive Tests Assessing Effort and Motivation

The purpose of this study was to determine which tests of effort and motivation would be appropriate for use with patients with mental retardation when feigning of cognitive deficits is suspected. The seven measures evaluated included the WMS-III Rarely Missed Index Test, forced-choice recognition portion of the California Verbal Learning Test-II, Reliable Digit Span test, Rey 15-Item Test, Rey Dot Counting Test, the Rey 15-Item Test with Recognition Trial, and the Vocabulary (V)-Digit Span (DS) difference score. Results indicated that the forced-choice portion of the CVLT-II, the V-DS difference score, and the Rarely Missed Index Test from the WMS-III might be appropriate for use with this population with passing rates of 89%, 98%, and 91% respectively.